SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — "Home for the holidays" means more to John Reese.
It means hope.
It means laughter.
It means...
"I have one," Reese said with a smile.
Reese and his roommate Kent have turned this apartment into their space. They hang out and play games — finding joy in the little things. For a while, the little things were all they had — a home was not among them.
"It was cold outside," Reese said. "It was...relentless."
For nearly six years, he struggled through homelessness.
"I walked the streets, and it was not a good time in my life," Reese said. "I had to have a lot of help and [Helping Hands] provided it."
The Helping Hands shelter in Springfield became his family, just as it has for the 130 men and 30 women who sleep there each night.
"We're getting people from just about everywhere to come to the shelter now," said shelter director Ron Doyle.
Doyle has been the shelter director for two years. In that time, he's seen hundreds of people like Reese come and go.
"Homeless hits home," Doyle said. "The people we see here are from all walks of life."
A group of concerned organizations and the City of Springfield came together to form Heartland Housed in 2023. The goal was to bring homelessness down to "functional zero" by 2028. That means every person who is experiencing homelessness will have the resources to find a home in 30 days or less. As of September of 2024, there were 645 people considered actively homeless in Sangamon County averaging 307 days from identification to finding permanent housing.
Helping Hands' supportive housing program is part of the equation in putting a dent in those numbers.
"They have stable housing to work on those issues, whether that be addiction, mental health issues or medical," said Jil Johnson, Helping Hands' director of recruitment, retention, development and direction. "It's really hard to focus on a matter at hand if you're worrying about where you're going to sleep, where you're going to shower or where you're going to eat."
Reese was one of the first clients to qualify and get the call last year.
"It's scary because...for so many years, I didn't have [a home] and for so many years, I was always wondering where I was going to live," he said, tears welling up in his eyes.
As the page turns to Christmas, he has no plans of big gatherings or far away trips. John Reese is staying here — because "home" is enough.
"Home for the holidays? I have one," he said. "And that means the world to me."
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