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“I found myself homeless July of 2013 when we lost our place in Spotsylvania and I started living in my van. I was moving all the furniture and stuff by myself and working 3rd shift at work while sleeping in the van in the daytime in the boiling heat of the summer. I hurt my back at work and so I lost my job and then everything just started gradually tapering downhill. I’ve been homeless since then until Friday when I got in my place. I was in the tents about a block away from where I live now…in fact, I can see my old campsite from my front porch!”

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“One day I got thermal underwear here at Micah and I had some more at the tent- they were still in the package and a guy that was on the street… I gave him the thermal underwear because I already had some and I didn’t know if he did. It started snowing one day and I had a couple dollars in my pocket so I took him to a pizza place and I bought him some pizza and something warm to drink. That way he had something warm in his stomach instead of eating whatever cold lunch he had in his bag.”

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“I want to be known just for being me. I want to be known that I’m a good dad, and that I love my kids. I want them to know that when I was a working I was a hard worker and I still try to do what I can. I want to be remembered for if I only had one dollar and somebody asked for it I would give it to him. That’s the truth. Because if it was in my pocket and I didn’t spend it, then I didn’t need it.”

BJ is now working towards getting his back fixed and spends a lot of his time helping out at Micah’s Hospitality Center.