Carpetball tables help homeless man
A free Thanksgiving dinner led Eugene to enroll in the "Phoenix Life Skills" program of The Milwaukee Outreach Center.
A partnership with Belize VoTech, a boarding school in Central America, creates work on both sides of the border with the construction of carpetball tables.
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POSTED: July 05, 2007
By John Patrick
MILWAUKEE, Wi. - A stolen can of tuna and a conversation with a librarian helped change the direction of Eugene's life.
A few days before Thanksgiving, Eugene – who had been homeless for most of 2006 – was caught shoplifting and arrested. After being released, he walked to a nearby library and began sharing his plight with an employee.
The librarian offered Eugene free tickets to a "Celebration of Love" dinner being held at the Operation Blessing-supported Milwaukee Outreach Center (TMOC).
The free meal came at the perfect time. As he ate, Eugene's table host encouraged him to attend TMOC's "Phoenix Life Skills" program – classes designed to motivate and empower adults toward achieving goals.
"While he was taking the classes, we were able to find transitional housing for Eugene," said Mike Rintelman, executive director for TMOC. "We also assigned him to our Belize carpetball table project."
Belize is a country in Central America, and carpetball is a cross between bocce-ball, pool, and bowling. Rintelman says a partnership with Belize VoTech creates work on both sides of the border in the construction of the game tables.
"While at the school in Belize, boys are taught a trade that will be necessary for them to thrive as adults and make a living for their families," Rintelman said. "The Belize students cut all the pieces to a carpetball table and send them to us."
Once the carpetball 'kits' arrive, Phoenix grads such as Eugene assemble and distribute them.
Besides providing him with short-term employment, TMOC staff learned something surprising about Eugene.
"We discovered Eugene is a gifted computer programmer," Rintelman said. "While working with us, he landed a contract job for a programming company. Since he was in transitional housing at the time, he worked from TMOC's computers."
Eugene is currently completing his second contract job for the same company.
"We see him every day in our computer resource area," Rintelman said. "Now that his life is on more stable footing, you can see the fog of self-doubt and despair diminish a little more."
How You Can Help
You can be a part of Operation Blessing's ongoing work by helping to support these and other life-changing projects. Through monthly donations, people like Eugene are given a chance to succeed and bring lasting change to their community.
Click here to make an online donation.
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