“I had stopped believing that help would come.” – Freddy
Freddy became homeless in 2021, a year after his brother Max lost his battle with depression.
“My brother was very broken and I had always taken care of him my whole adult life,” said Freddy. “And then suddenly Max was gone, and then I couldn’t pay rent anymore. I was homeless.”
Freddy first ended up at a shelter in Cambridge, but quickly decided he needed to move on. He struggled with crystal meth and fentanyl, and wanted to find a fresh start.
“Cambridge was the place where it all went wrong,” said Freddy. “I was an addict at the time, and I was struggling to stay clean. After my brother died, there were two things I wanted – to heal and to grow in my relationship with God.”
He found himself moving from shelter to shelter during this time before eventually creating his own home in the woods.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought being homeless in a tent would be,” said Freddy. “It was actually really peaceful for me, because I would spend my days just reading my Bible.”
Unfortunately for Freddy, he was soon told by city officials that he couldn’t stay in the woods anymore.
“I had lost my apartment, and I had been kicked out of some shelters. And now I couldn’t stay in the forest,” said Freddy. “It’s like, ‘where do you want me to go?’”
When he had finally lost all hope, he found a bed at House of Friendship’s ShelterCare program.
“I had stopped believing that help would come,” said Freddy. “When I moved to House of Friendship, that’s when I found optimism for the future.”
Caring team members helped Freddy as he began to heal from the trauma of homelessness, and the grief he still felt at losing his brother.
Last fall, Freddy moved into his own apartment in Charles Village, one of House of Friendship’s Supportive Housing communities.
“It’s so peaceful having my own space,” said Freddy. “It’s a very positive change for me.”
“For a long time, I didn’t think I would make it,” said Freddy. “I thought I would end up tapping out – everything was just too hard. But now it feels like I finally have hope.”
“I don’t know what comes next,” added Freddy. “I just trust that it’ll be good.”
