Homeless By Choice Because He Was Homeless By Default

Disclaimer: Sensitive material  

Roy Juarez Jr's dad was a roofer by trade and his hero. One day, his dad promised him a fishing trip. The next day, at age 7, his dad left with his cousins, family and dog to go get “ice”. They left Roy at his aunt’s house and came back 2 days later to gloat about what a great time the trip was. That was his first lesson, how to be angry, to hate and hold a grudge. So he built a relationship with is mom. But in the middle of the night, she would call out, “Me Ho, Me Ho” which means “my son, my son,” than she’d cry out in Spanish for help. The last night he remembered, his dad broke her jaw. 

So his family moved into hiding from place to place trying to avoid his abusive dad, but his dad always found them though. The police were at the house so much for domestic calls that the cop started dating his mom. The cop said come live with me, but I don’t want any kids. So at 14, Troy became homeless and a couch surfer. He had a 9 year old sister and a 2 year old brother to take care of.

Family after family adopted him and would tell him, “You are just like a son to me” and he said “No, you don’t know me!” and built barrier after barrier. Finally, he took a notepad and pen and wrote two letters to be read at his funeral.  One letter was to his dad and he said, “I forgive you dad.” After Roy finally did learn the  lesson of forgiveness through mentors, he  went to college, graduated and got a job. 

One day Roy’s boss tells him “If you work for me, you’ll never do what you are called to do. In three months you don’t have a job.” Fresh out of college that is a frightening thing to hear, but his boss was right.

So he asked God, “What do you want from me?” That night Roy had a dream that he was walking into an arena with young kids and a band playing come on in and together we can make a difference. Then he went to Denny’s to work on his tour.  His tour is 24 months and he is going across the nation to tell his story. Check out his site here, http://homelessbychoice.com/.

Roy believes in young people, encourages young people to keep on dreaming and wants to remind adults to never make children feel like a burden.  

“If you grow up in a hard life and learn lessons you’ll never learn in a book. The greatest lesson is forgiveness and becoming the change you wanted to see in the first place,” Roy Juarez said.  Let’s make some change for the homeless kids in Olympia.

You can help by donating socks, underwear, sleeping bags, tarps, flash lights and winter coats to Standup For Kids-Olympia, http://su4k.yefsite.com/. These items are not just on a one time giveaway, but a bridge for volunteers to communicate with homeless kids and build relationships with them, relationships that lead to trusting volunteers to help them get off the streets. 

Here are Some Fast Facts about Homelessness:

• 13 kids die of disease, suicide or abuse every day on the street
• There are currently an estimated 1.3 million homeless and street kids in America
• 2/3 kids on the street try to commit suicide  
• Children makeup 27 percent - the fastest growing segment - of the U.S. homeless population.

http://www.standupforkids.org/about/faqs.aspx