Senior Community Centers

Fall 2008 Newsletter

From Homeless to Hopeful
SCC Helps Senior Get a New Lease on Life      

When in need of cleaning supplies, socks or light bulbs, many people head to the nearest Target store. If you’re at the Sports Arena location, you may see Michael, also known as “Mr. Z”, stocking the shelves or helping a customer.

For the past six months, Michael has had the role of stock clerk, cashier and runner. As the oldest worker ever hired at that Target (he just turned 62), Michael’s managers and coworkers find him to be dependable and a hard worker; he’s often the first person they call when they need someone to fill a shift or take on a new challenge. Michael says what he enjoys most about his job is the “interaction with people, co-workers, and customers.”

Over the course of his life, Michael has had other roles. Growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana he was the youngest of three children. In 1969, less than two months after graduating from Purdue University with a degree in Engineering, he was drafted by the Marines and sent to Vietnam.

After returning from Vietnam in 1971, Michael found it difficult to pick back up where he left off. Things had changed and so had he. For a while, he worked with his brother designing and selling two-way radios. The business was successful but it wasn’t what he wanted to do. Tired and unhappy, Michael needed a change so he moved to San Diego, an area he had enjoyed while stationed at Camp Pendleton, and bought a small tavern downtown. It was a popular place for locals to hang out and get a cheap drink. He was a having a good time but he couldn’t escape the past. He was drinking heavily and as Michael describes it, became a “professional alcoholic”.

Michael battled alcoholism for ten years while trying to maintain his business. Then one day it just hit him – he couldn’t continue to live his life that way. He closed up the bar one night and never went back. He gave it to a friend and walked away from everything, including alcohol.

In March 2006, after living on the streets for nine years, Michael walked into Senior Community Centers’ Broadway Center. He had been attacked a few days earlier and his glasses were broken, leaving him unable to see. A friend told him that Senior Community Centers would be able to help him and after meeting with a social worker, he had a new pair of glasses within a few days.

Living on the street is hard and Michael hadn’t been eating well; surviving mainly off of what he could find in dumpsters at the bay and behind grocery stores. At the Broadway Center he was able to sit down and have a hot meal without looking over his shoulder. After learning about Michael’s history, his case manager told him about the Transitional Housing Program (THP) where he would have a place to live until he was financially able to move into permanent housing. This sounded great to Michael who was finding it more difficult by the day to be a homeless senior.

After settling into his room at the Sara Frances HomeTel, Michael was ready to go back to work but after being on the streets for so long, he didn’t know where to begin. His case manager found Employment & Community Options, an organization that helps seniors and individuals with disabilities find jobs. He immediately enrolled in a computer course since he knew if he wanted to get back into the workforce he would need to learn a skill – quickly. Although he had no idea how to use one, Michael became proficient so fast that he soon was teaching the computer class to other seniors.

Michael’s case manager saw how much he enjoyed teaching so she suggested that he take the California Basic Education Skills test (CBEST) and get his teaching credential. Michael passed the test and applied for a teaching position right away, getting certified as a substitute teacher for the San Diego Unified School District. He really wants to teach students in underserved communities, preferably homeless kids who he thinks he could really connect with since he understands what they’re going through. While he waits for the right position to come along, Michael stays busy at his job at Target. In July, after turning 62, he moved into the Potiker Family Senior Residence where he has a bigger room and is now part of a community of healthy, vibrant, independent seniors. “Amazingly, I found a program that works for me when it looked like there wasn’t anything that was going to work. It [Senior Community Centers] changed everything…I now have a purpose in life.”

Learn more about Senior Community Centers’ Transitional Housing Program.