By Luke Lukert
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTOP) — Walking around in frigid temperatures Monday afternoon, Jeff Edrington, strapped a “Will U Help” waterproof pack filled with identical packs meant for people living on the streets to put their prized possessions.
He didn’t go far from his hotel on New York Avenue in D.C., only a block or two, before he was literally embracing people without homes, crying with each other and praying together.
Edrington, the founder of Will U Help came to the nation’s capital over the weekend armed with 500 backpacks and an unbelievable amount of compassion.
He visited numerous organizations that help people who are homeless to hand out these packs, picking times when large groups would be there for meals and even a Super Bowl party a local church hosted for people in the city without shelter.
“Everything they own is all they can carry and even then, they worry about their things getting stolen, and so I thought, let’s make a huge backpack,” Edrington said “Let’s customize it just for the unsheltered.”
The 60-pound backpack comes with a permanent marker and a space to write a message that all can see.
“Waterproofing was essential, being out in the elements … but also having a spot to write a message so you can come out of this isolation,” he said. “Our mission statement is to end isolation for the unsheltered and the lonely.”
The backpacks are the first thing Edrington offers people on the streets. Then he offers a hug and an attempt to reconnect them with loved ones.
Edrington spoke about the people he meets who feel forgotten, “They heal through human connection and I want to take this one step further. What’s the fastest way you can connect with a human? To hug them, to bring them in, to embrace them like you love them, because you do love them.”
He walked blocks in Downtown D.C., handing out backpacks, and offering hugs and fist bumps along the way.
Edrington came across a woman who did not want a backpack at first. After talking with her for a few minutes she said, “Nobody cares.”
Edrington stood strong and immediately responded, ”I care.”
He repeated it several times ending with, “I came from Georgia to bring you backpacks and tell you Jesus has not forgotten you.”
They then embraced for several moments with tears in their eyes.
He gave her several backpacks to share with folks who she usually runs into on the streets as well as a few hundred dollars to buy warmer clothes and shoes for those living in the elements this winter.
The previous night he paid for three men who were at a Super Bowl party for the homeless to come stay at a hotel.
While he offered to reconnect her and several others with loved ones from their past they all declined. Edrington said the vast majority decline the offer but when it is accepted and reconnection is established, it is an unbelievably joyous occasion.
“We go out and just say, ‘Hey, is there anybody here that like to reconnect with a loved one? Maybe it was a mentor, maybe it was a coach, maybe it was a pastor, someone that saw value in you. Is there somebody we can reconnect you with?’ Because what we have found is that is the fastest way we can get someone off the street,” Edrington said.
With little information such as name and general location of where the loved one once lived, Edrington can use public databases to locate a phone number. He and other volunteers with the nonprofit record a 30-second video and send it to them.
He told WTOP about one such reconnection in Tennessee, where a man had been taken off the streets and sent to a rehab facility, and he told volunteers that he would like to reconnect with his sister.
Edrington sent the recorded message and said, “Fifteen minutes later, she sends a message back, ‘Yes, I would.’ So immediately, I pick up the phone and ask what’s the story? What’s going on?”
“She’s in tears and says, ‘I’m here with my mom. We haven’t talked to my brother or seen him in five years. We had been calling all the jails trying to locate him, and we couldn’t. He will never be on the street again.’”
When he got out of rehab, his sister and mother picked him up and sent Edrington a heartfelt message thanking him for reconnecting them.
Edrington said his mission to help homeless people started in D.C. When he was 10 years old, he came to the nation’s capital on a church trip and served at a soup kitchen.
“It opened my eyes as a 10-year-old to what was going on in the world,” he told WTOP. “We had people here on the streets of D.C. that needed food. They needed shelter and serving. I can remember taking them plates of food and them just looking tethered, just looking defeated, and thinking, ‘My gosh, these people need help.’”
He didn’t start his nonprofit until adulthood. Edrington was going to his office in Athens, Georgia, when he saw a man without housing.
“I’m watching people walk by, it’s like they don’t even know or care that they’re there,” he said. “They need a voice.”
He decided, “I’m gonna hug this guy. I’m gonna reach out, I’m gonna give him a hug. That hug changed everything for me.”
“It got into my heart and into my soul that all these folks want is just to be acknowledged as humans, and how better else can we acknowledge that than by hugging someone that hasn’t bathed in two weeks,” he continued.
Edrington said they embraced for 10 minutes in tears, “All because of a hug.”
That one moment led to backpacks, reconnections and the creation of Will U Help. Since then Edrington and volunteers have dotted the country from Manhattan to Birmingham, Alabama.
Edrington said volunteering to help someone find a loved one is as simple as filling out the organization’s reconnection form online and submitting it with a 30 second video or voice message.
Before initiating a case, the nonprofit makes sure the loved one is at least 18 years old and contact is not legally prohibited.
He also asked that folks humanize people on the street more and try connecting with these isolated individuals.
“The next guy you see walking down, when you’re walking down the street, that’s homeless, take two minutes, one minute out of your time, and just embrace him and tell him he’s not forgotten and that he’s wanted,” he said.
That action could change the world, he said.
“I would invite and I would challenge people to do that,” he said.
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