When a retired couple realized that an acquaintance was down on his luck, they decided to open up their home and hearts to him to help him get his life together again.
Allen Goldberg, a retired pediatrician from Chicago, purchased copies of StreetWise, a newspaper written by homeless people, all the time from Everett Atkinson. He knew Atkinson was down on his luck and in poor health, and was happy to help out by spending a few dollars on the newspaper when he had the chance. Most of the time, after purchasing the paper, he’d simply tell Atkinson “thank you” and be on his way, not thinking too much about the encounter.
But one day in 2006, Dr. Goldberg decided to stop and have a conversation with Atkinson. He discovered that Atkinson had been evicted from a flophouse because he wasn’t able to afford the rent, and was reduced to sleeping on the streets. Drug and alcohol abuse had taken a heavy toll on his body, and he wasn’t able to stand for more than a few minutes. He had no money, no food, no access to medicine, and no safe place to sleep.
“I had never met a person who had nothing before,” Goldberg told the Chicago Tribune. “I guess I found out what poverty really meant.”
When Goldberg got home that night, he told his wife Evi about his encounter with the homeless man—and she persuaded him to offer Atkinson their vacant apartment as a temporary place to get back on his feet.
“That’s why we became doctors—to help people,” said Evi, a retired anesthesiologist. As a child in Germany after World War II, Evi had been displaced by bombings, and relied on the kindness of strangers who were willing to help her own family when they had nothing. She thought that it was time to pay that kindness forward to someone else.
Soon, Atkinson moved into the apartment connected to the Goldbergs’ home, and they did what they could to help him sort out his life. Goldberg knew Atkinson had no money, so he helped him apply for government benefits. In the meantime, he and his wife bought Atkinson a pair of fur-lined boots to keep his feet warm through winter. Goldberg also helped introduce Atkinson to local community members so that he could make business connections.
Though Atkinson is still living at the Goldbergs’ apartment, he’s well on his way to independence, and is working to establish his own business as a soul food chef. “I want to be like everybody else and pay my rent, have my own place, pay my taxes,” he said.
Thanks to the Goldbergs’ kindness, he thinks he stands a decent shot.
“It lifts your health to have a place to rest and get some peace and quiet and it helps with your mental condition,” he said. “When you’re homeless, you’re a disposable person. When you’ve got an address and a phone number, you’re coming back into society again.”