Brian Helped Me Go From Panhandling to Vendor
By Michael Boyd
Twenty years ago, when I first met Brian Davis at the Bishop Cosgrove Center, I was living in a shelter.
At Site A, the men staying there slept on the floor of a garage on mats. It was cold, there were mice and only one bathroom for 60 men. I was kicked out because I assaulted a man who kept threatening to rob me.
At Site D, most of the men staying there at night had to clean the toilets. Brian organized a protest for the men who stayed there, holding toilet brushes, protesting having to clean the toilets.
At the Cosgrove Center, Brian was passing out coats and socks to homeless people. He talked about how if we’d stick together our living situations would get better, and they did. At that time we were sleeping on concrete floors no more than two inches from each other. We went from sleeping on the floor to sleeping in beds; we didn’t have to clean the toilets unless we wanted to.
He was introducing the homeless street newspaper to us because at that time because the police were taking homeless people who were panhandling, or just people laying around downtown Cleveland, to Lorain or Canton or other places not served by public transportation. The paper, The Homeless Grapevine, gave me an opportunity to make money for my daughter and myself. I didn’t have to panhandle anymore. West Side Catholic Center helped us by providing milk and diapers.
My daughter was three years old at that time. Thanks to Brian Davis encouraging me to sell the Homeless Grapevine, which is now the Street Chronicle, I was able to help support my daughter and myself. At twenty-four years old she is a graduate of Remington College, and a licensed Cosmetologist. My daughter is now able to support herself.
The hardest part of being a vendor at NEOCH, selling the Street Chronicle at the West Side Market, is missing people when they leave. I would just like to say that for the past 20 years, Brian has more than a boss to me. I regard him more as a friend or a skinny Uncle.
Mr. Davis, you will be missed!