First, Read:

I have a story!

I was pulling up at my house tonight and there was an old man limping, pushing a walker up the icy hill near my street. It's 0 degrees outside. So I parked and asked if he needed help.

He was trying to get to the homeless shelter. 

He was sober and harmless so I offered to give him a ride. After about a 10 minutes trying to figure out how to fit his walker into my car, we were off.

____________

He called himself Lawrence "the hobo" Duarte. 

Turns out, he was a jazz musician. Played trumpet. Went to school with Less McCann and Charlie Haden. 

Said, Mark Diamond is one of the best bassists anywhere." and "Paul Romaine is a great drummer. He works all the time."

Said, "Joe Bonner! Now that's a crazy person." 

Said, "I'm disabled. I need surgery on my hip." (He can barely walk). "But the shelter is full and so I have to go walk and find another place to say. There needs to be a shelter for disabled people."

He was clearly frustrated with the situation, but had a sense of humor about it.

Turned out he was miles away from where he needed to be.

I asked, "What would you have done if someone hadn't given you a ride?"

He said, "We'll, I guess I would have just used my wings to fly to Hawaii!"

We laughed. He said, "A silly question gets a silly answer."

He asked to hear my music. I showed him. He said he liked it.

We finally found the church he would be staying at. 

(In order to help with overflow in the cold months - there are around 100 homeless people in Boulder - churches in the area are donating a night a week to the homeless community).

So, I help him out of the car and to his walker just as a volunteer at the church shows up.

The volunteer introduces himself by saying,

"Oh, I see you found Lawrence. He always finds someone to give him a ride to the shelter. Looks like tonight he found you. Thanks for bringing him here."

Lawrence thanked me. I said goodnight to both of them.

I've never felt so grateful for my Toyota Corolla and my tiny, messy room. 

Also, I'm a little afraid, that maybe jazz makes you homeless. 

But only a little afraid. 

Then, Listen:

And Donate.

I will help you. If you have an idea, I will help you. Really. If you are trying to do something good and you need help, I will help you. 

Call me.
970.420.7526
 

Find something you believe and then do work. Then you find someone else who believes in it, too.
Then you work together. Then you find more like-minded people. Then the work goes more quickly.
Soon, there is change.

We can do great things if we do them together.