A quiet cry for help from one of our own

/ July 8, 2014

I woke up early today, flopping around on my own bed to the sight of the rising summer sun and the sound of the clanking Syracuse garbage collectors.

Somewhere around the world, you repeated some version of that scene, hot, cold, northern, southern, under the sheets or the over the blanket.

Kim Hood, one of us in this WordPress world, did this today in a motel in Georgia. She hasn’t awoken in her own bed for more than a week now, and unless fortune and her friends are with her, she won’t even be able to wake up in that motel soon, either.

She was on my mind when the thoughts began racing today, and I figured maybe she should be on yours, too. Sorry, Kim. I know how quiet and humble you are. But I just had to share a bit of your story.

(From Kim Hood's Quiet Desperation Blog on WordPress.)

(From Kim Hood’s Quiet Desperation Blog on WordPress.)

I didn’t see her blog post that she left her husband, dropped her beloved two dogs off at the shelter and moved to the motel until two days ago. My fault. She’d been writing about the steep fall, not making the rent, the demise of the marriage, for more than a week, but I’d been unable to do a 24-hour recap on my Reader for a while know, relying more on hit-and-miss icon clicks and google searches to keep up with my blogging friends.

I’d missed her Quiet Desperation blog until she commented on one of my posts and I clicked back on Sunday.

Here’s the awful news I saw staring me back in my face.

My transplanted New Englander friend is homeless. But obviously she’s got Wifi, I thought, so I sent her an email, promising her that I would click to her funding page on Monday morning and do what I could to help.

She immediately answered me. Kim said she was OK, hanging in there, looking for a job to turn things around.

We have a back story. Last October, when Kim began her blog of photographs and words from her little island village in Georgia, just north of the Florida line, she spotted my blog from Syracuse. Her husband, a roofer, had just finished a job up here. But he’d left a blanket — her blanket — in the hotel where’d he’d been staying during his work trip.

She took a blind shot, emailing me with the hope that I’d chase it down and send it back.

Why, certainly.

We hit it off by email, then regular mail.

I wrote about it.

Following Quiet Desperation thereafter, I could tell Kim was prone to depression. I emailed. She responded that she was hanging in there.

Now this.

I sent her $100, the most I thought I could afford to put on my credit card, hoping it would buy her a day and some food and some hope. I explained in my email yesterday morning how I was still job searching, was appreciating my freelance work, had experienced several finalist interviews for full-time jobs and was hoping for some good news myself.

When the funding went through I got a note from her that said, simply, “God bless.”

Several hours later, I received a phone call with the news that I’d gotten a full-time job. I’ve been looking since being laid off on Jan. 31, 2013. I start Monday.

Here’s the link to Kim Hood’s funding page.

I am not here to add to your fund-raising fatigue. I know there are plenty of worthy causes out there, many people who need help. I know that times are tough. If you can’t send a dollar, send prayers. Look at what her “God Bless” helped net me. Maybe you can spread her story in your own way, too, if you’ve read her words or looked at her pictures and connected with her mind.

She’s out there in a motel in Georgia, possibly a few days away from somewhere scarier than that, and I don’t like waking up to that thought at all.

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62 thoughts on “A quiet cry for help from one of our own”

  2. Congratulations first to you, my friend! I am so excited and believe God does work in mysterious ways! I cannot wait to hear more about your new job!
    As far as Kim goes, I feel bad. I will use a trite but true saying, “Charity begins at home.” I have used this a few times, when really good friends and causes have asked for my help. I explain that I wish I could, that I have just enough to get by, as it is. I have a little more this summer, which I work over 10 hour days to make. Then, I ‘squirrel’ it away for when people don’t need auto parts and we have shorter days and smaller paychecks at the warehouse. I will keep Kim in my prayers and go over and give her a hug!
    You are such a wonderful and caring person, you have done it again! “Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water…” Hugs, Robin

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  4. Mark, Another act of kindness…I will visit Kim and send good thoughts her way, thanks for helping to spread the word. Congrats to you on your new position–all the best!!! 🙂

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  6. I have saved this page on my browser until I could get home and get to it. I wish her well on her journey Mark. What a scary place to be in life. Hopefully it is the start of something wonderful.

    And congratulations! 🙂

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  9. Mark, Kim is in my prayers, and when my next check comes in will be receiving some cash also. I know what homelessness is, as well as being bankrupt, unemployed, and wondering if there will be a next meal. And the deep depression that goes with all of that. Thank God, I fought my way through and came out on the bright side, but it was a battle I’ll never forget, and one I still fight on a daily basis.

    Congrats on the new job. You really deserve some good coming your way after all the good you have done for other people.

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  10. Remind me to stop complaining so much. Jesus. What a reality check. Thanks. I wish I had a big bag o’ cash.

    Mucho congrats on the new yob. I’ll bet that’s a load off, eh? It was for me when I finally landed one.

    Oh, and M-E-T-S, METS, METS, METS.

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    • It does put things in perspective, Mark. I read her blog, saw the word homeless. DAMN.

      Thanks for the congrats on the J-O-B JOB JOB JOB. Tough market is an understatment. Load off, for sure. A year and a half working off my recliner. An office! New people!

      The Mets are only nine games under. I am on cloud nine, yes! Hope summers eternal.

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  12. Congratulations with your new job Mark 😀
    You are a very kind soul and help a friend in need this way, you are a great proof for the Law of Attraction. I hope Kim will find the right way for her now.

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  13. Thank you for sharing this story again. Being homeless, short term or indefinite should not be an option for anyone. I wish she were closer to me, I would set her up in Matt’s room when he leaves this week.

    Now, congratulations to you! Good going! 🙂

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    • You know what, Jeanette? Richmond is not that far from the Florida-Georgia line in the grand scheme of homelessness. You can click on her blog and give her a shout if you want company in Matt’s room …

      And, thank you regarding my job, my friend! It was tough going, but I kept at it!

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  14. My dearest friend Mark…once again I am without words at your kindness and amazing heart. Congrats on the good news! I KNEW something would come for you! (Happy Dance for Mark)!! 🙂

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  15. It is amazing how quickly giving can return to you (so quickly) and so tenfold. I do believe that if you had held on to that $100, that job would not have “coincidentally” fallen into your lap. Of course, now you won’t have time to blog!

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  18. Bless you for your BIG Heart, Mark, and congratulations on the new job. It’s amazing how we get blessed when we give to others. I give as well!!! Thank you for writing this post! Love, Amy

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  20. Mark … Thank you for caring and helping Kim. I do hope that she’s able to quickly rebound from this set back. I’ve known some scary times when my two girls were little, when we were one or two paychecks away from disaster … and, then, I lost a job. Opportunity knocked and I got another job. Crisis averted and my girls were not aware just how scared I was at the time.

    Congratulations on your new job. When do you start? May your good deeds be returned to you and your family a thousand times. 😉

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    • Thank you for sharing how you went through scares like Kim’s when you were young, and came back from the brink, Judy. I am hoping breaks quickly fall Kim’s way and she can get on track. I would love for her to be able to get her two dogs back from the animal shelter, for instance. I did not go into that a lot in my post, but that is truly breaking her heart.

      I start work on Monday, Judy. It took almost 18 months since the layoff. The freelancing and this blog have been wonderful, but, it is time to get back to the 40-hour clock and paycheck.

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    • Kim’s a good egg, Mer. She already had to give up her two dogs, which broke her heart. I hope she can pull through this somehow.

      Thanks for your congrats. I’ve been away from a real work desk for 18 months! It’ll come back quickly.

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  24. mark, as i told you yesterday, you are a friend and connector by nature, and this just shows it once again. what a wonderful post you’ve written here, and i’ll pop over and help in my own small way. sometimes it’s the reaching out and kindness of others that makes all the difference in someone else’s world. i am so very happy to read about your new beginning, and you are so very deserving of it, the world gives back what you put into it, and you never gave up, and now look forward to your new adventure.

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  25. Mark: Feel I owe you a word of explanation for unsubscribing to your blog, since I recently asked you to email me info on how to subscribe. I assumed that you would be posting mostly on CNY music scene, especially upcoming local jazz concerts, but I found that you covered a wide range of topics not connected to the performing arts. I simply don’t have time to read that material. Best, John

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  26. Mark, that is an amazing post in more ways than one. I’ll check out her blog. And congratulations to you, my friend. You’ve certainly earned it.

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  27. You are amazing, Mark. I am taking in all your news, right now. And I’m off, with another welcomed assignment from you. One more thing: many congratulations, regarding the fruits of Kim’s blessing.

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