John Walters: “A Blessing from God”
John Walters smiles outside Corner Shower and Laundry.
This past fall, John Walters was starting to get worried.
He had been homeless since March of last year, and had struggled to find a consistent place in a shelter. Although he’d applied for Section 8, that wasn’t coming through either. Eventually, he started sleeping in an abandoned ambulance. But with winter on its way, he knew he would need to find another option soon.
He started attending services at St. Peter’s and coming to Corner Shower and Laundry to clean up and find respite from the cold. He shared how meaningful it was to be able to take a shower and wash his clothes. He said:
“It gave me more self-confidence in myself, so I could be around people and not be embarrassed. I like to stay clean. I might be homeless, but I ain’t gonna smell like I’m homeless.”
But he still needed a place to stay. There were many times that he felt like giving up, but he kept pursuing housing options, hoping that something would come through in time for the worst of the winter weather.
John and staffmember Early Dorris III receive the award from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.
On a Sunday morning in November, John came to St. Peter’s hoping for something warm to eat after service. He didn’t know that it was the church’s annual Homecoming service, in which they had invited current and former tenants to receive awards for their service. Corner Shower and Laundry board member Janet Ray saw John come in, and asked him if he would like to join staffmember Early Dorris in accepting the award for Corner Shower and Laundry. John was surprised by the invitation, but honored to accept.
After accepting the award, John was connected with a representative from COTS – Coalition for Temporary Shelter – a former tenant of St. Peter’s who had also received an award that day. She told him that COTS had recently received funding for low-income housing and they would be happy to help him with the process of finding a home. He couldn’t believe his luck.
John at the NSO office with his new house keys.
A few weeks later, John had secured a low-income apartment in Detroit with the help of COTS and NSO (Neighborhood Service Organization). And he credits it all to that fateful day at St. Peter’s. He said,
“I guess that ceremony was a blessing from God. In a year, I went from nothing, and I kept the faith, and believed that there was something else out there for me. I just stayed and worked on it. Now I have my own keys to my own apartment.”
Although he has his own place now, John said he still wants to come back to Corner Shower and Laundry, Manna Meal, and St. Peter’s. He said, “I like the atmosphere. There’s no violence here and everybody's nice. Yall my family here now. I’ll be coming back!”