Thomas was staying at a homeless shelter when he met CASA staff member Phil Brickle and began working for CPA, CASA’s landscaping crew. Several months later, Thomas was able to move into his own one-bedroom apartment at Hope Crest, a CASA property designed for persons with disabilities who have been chronically homeless.
Thomas's Garden
(A transcript of the interview is below)
“I was happy, I was really happy that CASA gave me a chance to change my life, you know what I’m saying? Being a schizophrenic and having that addiction, it’s kind of hard to comprehend – but for me, what they did, they helped me see that I can do better by myself, for myself.
I just been through a lot. It’s hard, and then I turned to having an addiction, to then coming and beating the addiction, to having my own place.
I never thought I’d end up in a place like that. It’s sort of like a dream come true. Just going there and turning the key, being able to go in and just relax. If you want to walk around the house the way you want to, you can. Be free! Be yourself! If you want to answer the door, you can answer it. If you don’t, you don’t. Cook what I want to, eat what I want to.
At the shelter you couldn’t do that. You had to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning and eat breakfast, and then you had to leave out at a certain time. And then you had to check in, and now they don’t even serve lunch down there no more. At lunch you got to go to the soup kitchen, and then lights have got to be out at nine o’clock.
If you ask me: Am I proud of myself? Yeah, I am. But I want to do better. I want to do better – I’m gonna do better. I’m going to keep on working with CASA until I get gray hair. Okay, until I get more gray hair because I already got gray hair.
So I thank God for CASA. God brought me this way to CASA, so they helped out a lot, you know. Just having an apartment has given me a chance to redeem myself. Because I know somebody else at the shelter that’s in my shoes want a place to stay too, want to change their life, want to do things for their self. If you want a place to stay, you want to get yourself together, CASA is the place to be.”
