John pushing one of this two carts (Photo: Reed)
Taxes are due today. Ugh… I have waited to the last minute. Shame on me. Maybe the IRS will give me $10!
On Day 115 I was walking home and walked by a man pushing two shopping carts full of stuff south down Connecticut Avenue. He had a system where he would push one of the carts about a block, leave it there, then go back and push the second cart up to where he had left the first one. He repeats this for hours sometimes. I stopped and offered to help push his carts for a while so he didn’t have to keep making double trips. He wouldn’t accept my help.
His name was John. Two Johns in a row!
Even from a few feet away I clearly smelled a very foul vinegar-like odor coming from John. He definitely needs some new clothes and a good shower. I wanted to help him and offered him my $10. He accepted it.
Photo: Reed
His shopping carts are full of grocery store boxes and empty bottles and all kinds of other things. I asked where he leaves the items during the day, because I imagine he can’t stay with the items all day long. He said he usually just leaves them down near the McDonald’s on 20th and M Street. The 64-year-old is obviously uncomfortable talking to me…but I push on.
John has been homeless for five years he says as he looks around a bit erratically. The tattered hat he wears cast a slight shadow on the upper part of his face making it difficult to see his eyes as I speak with him. He says that he ended up homeless here in DC after moving down from Albany. “I couldn’t find housing when I got here,” he said. He has been pushing the carts for years.
My guess is that he suffers from some form of mental illness. He says that he will use my $10 for food. I asked him if there was anything that the YoG followers could help him with, but he said “no.” I really wanted to get his clothes washed for him or get him some new ones but he said he had no contact information, although I might be able to find him near that McDonald’s he mentioned. Incidentally that is the same McDonald’s where Gregory from Day 71 used to hang out. I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks now.
I managed to get a short video of John, but then he got a little antsy and went on his way.
Year of Giving 
Poor John. We used to have a woman in my town who did the shopping cart shuffle like this, only she had FOUR carts. She tied them together in two pairs with bits of rope and bungee cords, end to end, so she could push two at a time.
Maybe someone could offer John some bungees so at least his carts would be easier to move around? And maybe a tarp if he doesn’t have one already, to cover it all up when it rains?
A friend just introduced me to your blog. I’m so impressed and awed. Hope for humanity often comes in unexpected places. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! All blessings and happiness to you and those you touch.
Just found your site today……wow, powerful stuff.
You certainly saw more of John than we did, but I didn’t see mental illness. Rather, I saw a defeated man who was embarassed to be interviewed.
I hope he hasn’t completely given up and maybe having some someone like you speak “to” him instead of at him or down to him (as I’m sure he’s used to by now) might give him the spirit to keep trying.
You know Mike, I am not sure that he had mental illness, you might be right. What you saw on camera was exactly the way he was off camera as well. It was after midnight and maybe he was suspicious and nervous too. Thanks for your comment! Reed
There is something out of place with him. Whether it is mental illness or something else. There are quite a few people like him in Asheville, NC. It seems to be the hub now for collecting homeless and even though they appear normal, they’re not. There is something that keeps them from being able to hold down a stable job or deal with everyday reality. They get in these repetitive modes and stick with them to survive.
There is a man in Johnson City, TN that frequents the McDonald’s with a multitude of shopping bags, usually around 10 – 20. He puts them on the table he is at and keeps counting the contents over and over for hours on end. He will take something out and put it back. He will order food, but never eats it, just keeps his ritual of counting bags and contents until he is told to leave.
I am a 20 yr old college student…. I am paying my own way through college and looked at my bank account today to realize how little cash I have left to my name… I felt almost sorry for myself and a bit down when I came across the story of what you are doing for others on AOL. I am amazed at what you have done because I wish I could do something like this! This story in particular brought me to tears. I just wanted to thank you for making me realize how grateful I am to have the $54 I have in my bank account…. instead of feeling sorry for only having $54 i have realized how grateful I am to have a whole $54!
Reed,
Thank you for doing this. I want to say so much more but this entry in particular has me in tears.