January 12, 2022 • 25 mins
Anthony Delgado took a hit of what he thought was a cigarette and suddenly found himself in a 12-year addiction. But, even in the deepest points of his addiction and finding himself unhoused, he was able to find a community that he still connects with to this day. In this episode, find out how Anthony leveraged the love he found for himself - and for others - to build a network through iCare Atlanta, a non-profit that helps the community find peace, health and healing.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Have you ever wanted a safe space where you can
just exist, where for a moment in time, you can
be you, with all the intricacies and parts of you
that people don't always understand. Welcome to end the deep
stories that shape us. I'm your host, Zach Stafford, and
each episode we create a space to be you, all
of you and all your messy and complicated glory. Every
(00:25):
story shares what it means to be a black and
Latin X man living with different hardships, whether it's a
struggle of identity, discrimination or health, and how they've managed
to push forward despite the circumstance. We hope to get closer,
even if just a little, to a road of healing
and understanding. Hi, everyone, welcome back. Today's episode is all
(00:50):
about the community I think most of us have, and
that's the chosen family. Sometimes life throws us in directions
that we don't foresee, and in some cases it leaves
us in situation sans where we don't have our family unit,
either because circumstance has forced us to keep our distance
or they've chosen not to stay. But somewhere along the way,
we start to create our own chosen tribe, handpicked and
(01:12):
selected through shared experiences. It's those friends that come up
in the unexpected times, that first day of college, that
stressful day at work, or even a fun night out
that are so special and crucial in the shaping of
who we are. Like some of us, our guest Anthony Delgado,
has a loving family, but along his own journey to
self love and redemption, he had to rely on an
(01:34):
unlikely chosen family, one that helped him get through some
tough times riddled with homelessness and addiction. Anthony was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts, and remembers the good old days, the
ones where people helped each other take care of each other.
This original community is the one that shaped his formidable years,
the one where he learned discipline, before joining the military
and before things took a drastic term. As a kid,
(01:58):
I grew up with a single power. It twelve of
us in our family. I just appreciated my brothers and
sisters and the people in my neighborhood. It was a
very back in those days. The neighborhood was a neighborhood.
If you get out of line, you're next to a
neighborhood kind of patter your but that's what I try
that today, you're going to jail. Everybody took care of
(02:19):
each other back then. I'm six and five, so coming
up as a kid, friendships meant something. It was loyalty.
The neighbors took care of each other. You have your
ballock parties and everybody brings a dish and you know,
stuff like that. But I kind of straight a lot
when I was a kid. I really didn't have the
(02:40):
discipline that I should have had. My mom was the best,
ever man. She did everything she could have raised us
the best she could. And I think about that today,
man coming up, how many times that must have broke
her heart, you know, but she still loved us. She
still loved me and she did great bringing us up.
When I was in trouble, I should tell you now
(03:03):
you're gonna be okay, you know, And it's just like
she made you feel go. She disciplined that. How do
you know? But she's not let you know that you
did okay. The best thing she did for me is
when she signed for me to go into the Marine Corps.
And I didn't want to go, but that was some
tough love. I mean, she had to let me go.
And when I got in there when they started yelling
at me, I wanted to cry and go home and
(03:24):
see my mama. They start yelling, get on them yellow footsteps,
and you knew you had just stepped into a pile
of you know what and it's about to come down
on you. I was stationed and never went overseas. I
was at Kemple, joined with my brother Stevie. Was the
Marine Corps boxing chip for two or three years. But
(03:47):
my problem started when I got out of the Marine,
and uh, I got involved in organized crime. I worked
for a friend of mine I can't say his name,
and I continue to do foolish things. I got messed
up with the wrong people and I was collecting money
for a living here and there. I traveled and I
(04:11):
did a little bit of work for some people, and
I caught in Michigan and I I had to go
away for five years. Yeah. I went to the Federal
penitentiary for five years for collection and credit stor the means.
And that's just what happened. I'm not trying to glorify that.
But when I came home after doing the five years,
(04:32):
a friend of mine told me to smoke a cigarette,
and the cigarette, which I didn't know it was weed,
which I never smoked, was laced with crack cocaine, and
that one hit sent me on a twelve year addiction. Run.
I had to get away. Um, I had some situations
(04:52):
up there that I had to get away from. So
I came to Georgia and I was living with my
cousin and uh, we were getting high and somebody took
one of my pebbles, my crack rock, and I thought
he did it, so I slapped him and I pushed
him down the stairs. He put me out and it
took me. It's called Doraville train station here directly across
(05:16):
the street from my office. And how ironic this is
is that's where my location I'm at right now. So
God brought it full circle. So when I got downtown,
I took the train downtown Atlanta. I was homeless. I
had nowhere to go. Being homeless in the South wasn't
what Anthony pictured for his life at all. But even
(05:37):
in that moment, what some would consider to be the
most desolate or lonely of times, he was able to
find a semblance of a community that helped him through
these rough days. There were two people I slept next to,
I slept on one bench and Ralph and Floyd stepped
to the right of me on benches. Right now today,
Ralph and Floyd is still sleeping under the eighty five
(05:58):
street bridge on Ella Street, still there, and I've offered
to take them and bring them off from a place
to stay, but they choose to be there. They choose
to be there. Ralph is a witness for God right now.
And he told me straight up, he said, no anything,
I don't want to go in the way. He said,
I'm doing God's work. God makes sure I'm fit and
he's keeping me healthy. He says, I lost all my teeth,
(06:22):
And I said, yeah, I see that. But the sense
of humor that he has in his state of mind
and situation that he's in, to him, that's where he's
supposed to be doing God's work, reaching the people, witnessing
the people down there, putting some hope into their lives.
To me, it's upside down. To him, he's fine, And uh,
(06:45):
I got really close with them and embraced my heart
that they're still there. But I got really close to
a lot of people down there. When you were living
in all this, where did you think you fit in
those boxes? Did you want to be there or did
you want to get out? And what about your addiction?
Were you deeper even aware that you had an addiction
at the time. First of all, I didn't ask for
(07:05):
this addiction happened. I wasn't looking for this to happen.
I thought I was just going to take a puffle
for a cigarette or a joint and it was going
to be over with. I was trapped. I basically I
got baited into this and I was bitter for a
long time. My man, how could you tell somebody to
try something that you know it's going to get them
addicted and think it's a joke. Everybody's not your friend,
(07:29):
I don't care, family, who they Everybody doesn't have your
best interests at heart. So you need to be aware
of what you're doing when you're out there. You need
to be aware with you're drinking, with, you're smoking whatever.
Don't accept none of them, nobody. That's my theory on
this whole thing. You just can't do it. At this point,
(07:50):
Anthony has been homeless for a while and one day
something mystical happens inside of a Greyhound station, of all places,
he recalls, trying to stay warm inside the bus building,
and all of a sudden, a man and woman appear,
who he believes were angels. These angels instruct Anthony to
head to the local via hospital. He's not doing well
on this particular night. He's feeling tightness in his chest.
(08:12):
He's scared to go to the hospital, but he finally
caves and follows his angel's advice. But as he follows
him out of the door, the police and other bystanders
laugh at him. There's no couple anywhere in sight. He's
finally told to purchase a bus ticket or leave, so
he begins to panhandle. Later again, another man agrees to
buy him a train ticket so he can get to
the hospital, but as he turns to thank the man,
(08:34):
something unexplainable happens. So I step on the train. I
turned around and then I want to say thank you,
and he's gone. There's no way in the world as
a man could have got up the top of the escalator.
If anybody's been in Atlanta, they know at five points
you gotta walk over there first about it. He was going.
(08:56):
I did what he told me. I got to the hospital.
They would rush me to row me totally close off.
I v me. I stayed there for five days. So
the fifth day the nurse came up to me, or
the fourth day the nurse comes up. She said, Mr Dogado,
She says, how would you like to go into a
rehab program? I says, for what I said, I wasn't
(09:18):
feeling good, that's all. I don't need no rehab program.
She said. That's the first step of denial. You're in denial,
she says. But if you don't go into the program,
you're gonna be back on the streets tomorrow. So two
things are gonna happen in good bed or the streets.
And uh. I opted to go into the program, and
it was the best thing I did. You had to
(09:40):
go to church, you had to get a job, you
had a program. And I was still pretty much addicted.
I guess I still had the cravings. Started going to
church and they're talking about baptizing me. And I said,
hold it, I said, I'm from north I'm baptized already.
Pastor looked at me, he said, as well, Brother Anthony,
(10:01):
let me tell you something. I don't forget it. He
said that don't come. You got sprinkled. You gotta go
down in the water. I told him, hold on a minute, passed,
I'm down south with all you Holy rollers. Are always
talking about baptism and going in water. That's all I've
been here. He says. No, he says, if you do
what I asked you to do, and you as an adult,
(10:23):
except Christ as your savior, he said, you will see
a difference in your life. And I got baptized in
Jesus name. I came out of that water. Yeah, I
came out of that water, and it was like something
(10:44):
come over me. The community that Anthony created while a
house meant a lot to him, even if the circumstances
were unfortunate. At first, giving back to this chosen family
of sorts wasn't in the cards. But little did he
know that, through a few interactions with the local restaurant
and church members, he drastically changed the course of his
(11:05):
life for himself and others, ultimately finding what he calls
his purpose in life. So one day we leave church
and well, never bread, and they're throwing away bags of
bread in the pastor, says Anthony. Brother Anthony asked him,
I said, past I ain't begging for no bread. I
am asking for no breath. He looked at me, your,
(11:25):
brother Anthony, we could take it back to the church
give it to the members. I said, you had, there's
a lot of pastry, and gave it to me. But
the manager says, you have your Bible one see. I said,
I don't even know what that is. He says the
nonprofit status. Well, we can get it right off. He said,
you should get one. I said, for what? I just
want your bread today. Two weeks later, we're back there
(11:46):
again and I asked him again. He says, okay, he said,
did you apply. I says no, but I promise you
I will. So he gave me the bread. After we
passed it out, we're getting ready and throwing some away.
What are the mothers of the church? Comes up? Ye,
brother Anthony, She said, don't you throw that bread out? Again?
I said, what do you want me to do it?
She said, I want you to take it downtown. For what?
(12:07):
She should take it to the park where you used
to sleep. And again I said, I don't want to
relive that. I'm not doing it. And she said, brother Anthony,
what was the sermon about today? I said, Mother was
about obedience. She says, okay, So what are you gonna do?
You're gonna be obedient to what I'm asking you. She
had me, She knew she had me. I said, okay, Mother.
(12:29):
So I go downtown and I see Ralph, I see Florid,
I see I see all these people down there, and
I'm passing on cakes and pies and just hanging out.
And I stopped crying, and I say, thank you, Father, God.
I found my purpose in life. And then from after that,
God just started working and passed. He told me, said
(12:51):
to your obedience and everything we've asked you to do.
He said, look what God's doing for you. I said yeah.
He said, he gave you the gift of help. I said, well,
tell him to take it back. I don't want it,
he says. He God don't take back when he gives you.
He says, So you stuck with it, he said, I
told him, tell him to take it back. I don't
(13:12):
want to do this, though, But you're stuck. I mean,
you're stuck with it, but you're very passionate about it.
I'm stuck. Bro. He got you, and you seem to
like to have a lot of joy doing it. Was
it always as joyful for you? Or was it a
ride to get there to where you're excited to do
the word. It was a long ride. I had a van.
I had a start with a pair of pliers. I
(13:32):
started in my garage with two refrigerators in my apartment complex,
and they said, Mr Delgado, she said, you're gonna have
to get a license. I said why. She says, because
you're running a business. I said, not really, I'm just
giving away food to the neighbors. She says, well, management
thinks it's a business, so they're not going to give
you a license. I said, oh, yes, they will. So
I went to city Hall to the next day and
(13:55):
I applied and the lady at the front desk says,
hold on, Mr Doug God, I'll be right back. They
gave me a business license, the first time ever in
an apartment complex, right here and done within George, and
I knew God was working that. And then when we
went from the apartment complex to a small building and
I started feeling really really good about it. I really did,
(14:19):
and I said, this can't be bad. But how am
I going to fund it? I still hadn't got my
five O one seat. And I made a man named
John Eaton, and I called him. I went to go
see him he said it's going to cost about fifteen
hundred dollars. So when I come into us house, his
wife is coming down the stairs and I hear her say, John,
(14:40):
is that your client? He said yes. She says, you
need to help that man. She said, I felt annointing
on him as soon as he came in the house.
It's just what she said. He cut the price in
half for me, and he's been with me ever since.
He's been watching over my program. And yeah, it just
(15:00):
grew and grew. Now I have eight full time employees.
That's incredible. Tell me more about the people you serve.
You've told me a lot about how you got here,
who supported you, But who are the everyday people you
were with every day dealing with addiction, homelessness, all these
other things. Well, because we can't really go downtown to
(15:21):
feed the homeless no more, because they're gonna give you
a ticket for a ticket for feeding people, so we shifted.
We basically feed families in which is a major demand
right now. I mean these are working people, single parents,
like three or four kids. But they got the rent,
they got the utilities, they got car payments, and you
(15:42):
get a weekly paycheck. And if it's like bucks, you
don't have a lot left over when it comes at
the end of the month. So we're basically focusing on
families and it's been very successful. Every Friday we go
to an apartment complex and we picked one city a
month and we work with all the police departments with
(16:02):
the city that we're in. Those departments will send offices
to come out and they help us distribute the food
to families. And it's a good thing because the relationship
between the community and the police needs a bond and
if they get to talk to the offices that are there,
they get to see, hey, it's not as bad as
you think talking to these guys, you know, so it
kind of works out with them also. And uh, I
(16:26):
do hurricane relief also, I've been to New Orleans, I've
been to Florida. My box truckles whoever would need it.
Your story is so much about addiction, this kind of force,
addiction that led you on this path. What are the
stories of other folks you're you're working with? Is addiction
the common line through a lot of them? Or what
are what are the barriers are facing? No, contrary to that,
(16:46):
not at all. It's employment. It's money. Most of the
people we deal with are not addictive. There's having a
hard time right now. Most of them all single parents,
but multiple kids. And that's the sad thing about it.
When you've got a year old with four kids, little babies.
(17:09):
Most of the families don't step up to help. It's
very hotbreaking when you see that. You go to these
homes and you see the cabinets are empty. But oh,
I got a boyfriend. He loves me, but he ain't
bringing food in the house. How does he love you?
That's not love. I mean, you can't rely on him
to support your family. You've got to get step up,
(17:30):
do something, trying to find something. Listen, if you want
a job, I can tell you right across the street
right now, I tell them, and you can have a
job tomorrow morning. It's called working day. You get paid
at the every day, but it's a job and if
you go every day, that's a hours that day. But
they won't do it. They won't do it. But do
you think it's some of it? It's in my experience
(17:52):
with working with different folks in crisis. Sometimes they don't
know that they're worth fighting for, they're worth fighting to
invest in themselves. Do you see that? A similar learn
with these people I do because they have no self confidence.
They don't even know how to love themselves. So I
spend time with them, and I talked to and said,
you know what, you love yourself before you love anybody else.
Love yourself first. Then you'll be able to really love somebody.
(18:14):
Your self confidence. I can't do this. I can't. Yeah,
you can't. We are a G e d Training center free,
come get your G E D s. Whatever you come
out will help you. I know all these folks that
do not have the G wouldn't even come to They
come one time, two times and never come back. It's
like it's a challenge for them to do better for themselves.
(18:37):
And like I said, the self confidence you need, I
didn't have it, but I learned how to get it.
I learned patients. I learned how to show love because
I love myself. I didn't love myself at all. Now
I learn how to be humble and learn how to say, hey,
let me help you, what do you need? Yeah? And
I feel like these people do you have reasons or
(18:59):
why they think they're not lovable? You know? I know
with homelessness, there's a high rates of HIV positivity. So
when people are positive time, they feel like they're not
deserving of love, or that they're they don't have a job,
they don't deserve love. How do you get them to
overcome things like that? And do you see like health
as a big barrier for these people too? Yeah, that
is a big thing too. They're not on any type
of insurance or anything. They don't qualify for some stuff.
(19:24):
I mean some of them do, but they don't apply.
And you try to get them to apply to Yeah,
I'll come back and do it. Come on, We'll get
you on the computer, sit down with you can help you.
You can lead them to the water, you know what
they say, but they can't make them drink it. And
I'm not the only organization out here doing what I'm
doing as far as trying to get these people educated.
(19:44):
We have financial planning to help people, teach them how
to budget your money, how to buy a house, and
how to do these different things. So you just don't
give up. You keep trying and if you say one
or two, it did something because it was one or two,
hopefully they'll pass it along what they learned and ship
(20:07):
acknowledge that they got from from coming around here, coming
to these different classes and stuff. But I don't give up.
I come in here in the morning for five o'clock.
I prayed my building and I asked God every day,
God just put me in front of somebody that I
could plan a seed in that, another sink in water,
and let you give the increase to throughout the day.
(20:29):
Some people say that's easy to say, Yeah, it's easy
to do too. Believe in yourself and then somebody will
believe in you, even through humble and somewhat reserved beginnings.
I currently and I was founded and has kept their
doors open during difficult pandemic times. Today, the center serves
(20:52):
the community through its food bank and has even added
other services including job placements, mentorships, and a GD center,
among other programs. For Anthony, the success of the nonprofit
is centered within its core message truly putting in the
work for the people within his community. They can't just
be me. Collaboration through mo non profits should be the
(21:13):
main thing that we should be looking at, all of
us working together, but it doesn't happen. Some of these
organizations are all about their organization only. Funding is not
as free or open as everybody thinks it is. You're competing.
You're competing with organizations that probably not even doing the
work that you're doing, but because they know somebody, they're
(21:35):
getting the money. And that's the bad thing about it.
So I'm one person, one organization with some fantastic employees.
We do what we can, but we need more people
to step up. More organizations say hey, step out and
do a little bit more than what they're doing. Some
of them are doing a fantastic job. Don't get me why.
(21:56):
I mean, there's some good, good organizations out here. But
when you're when you're working alone and you try to
collaborate with somebody else, and it's a fight just to
get them to get together with you. All nonprofits need volunteers,
All nonprofits need money. Give him a couple of hours
a month, you know, or something you know, just you
(22:18):
don't even have to go to nonprofit to be nice
to somebody. Before I got this problem, I just smile
at somebody, buy somebody a cup of coffee. I did
that at Stockbucks. Most people should just look outside their
circle and say who can I help today? What organization
can I go volunteer with? Bring some clothes, buy some
(22:40):
kings to some food, bring it to one of the shelters.
There's all kinds of ways that people can get involved
with the community and specifically with Eye Care Atlanta. How
can people support you and this really important work that
you're doing every day. Well we we we Like I said,
we're basically a food based program, but we venture out
and everything. So my main prober thing right now was
(23:02):
funding to be straight up, which it's funding because we
have so much food here. We don't turn anybody, but
you don't have to be a needy person that prus
they like your cabinets are empty to get food from us.
Anybody could come. He was in Atlanta. You wanted to
come bind do some groceries and you want to go
give it to somebody. We had give it to you
because we encourage people to come pick something up and
(23:24):
bless somebody with it. But for me, my my main
kid thing is is funding here. We lost some funders
because they funded us for over three years. And if
you're in, if you're out there in our profit arena,
you know what I'm talking about. Some some funders give
you one to three years, four years. We lost three
of them this year alone, and the pandemic hasn't helped
(23:44):
none of us in the arena. That's a lot. Funding
has dropped off a lot, and that's that's what we need.
But we all well take can which we take, clothes,
we take, toilet trees, and whatever they want to do
and turn not in the wing m For some of us,
finding that balance of loving ourselves and others is a
(24:06):
lifelong search. Anthony certainly went through the ups and downs
that come with addiction, but even then he was able
to find his tribe, the people he could lean on
and learn to love despite being unhoused. And it was
this journey that led him to self love and allows
him to double down on this love towards others by
giving back every single day. If you're interested in finding
(24:27):
out more about Anthony's nonprofit, head over to I Care
Atlanta dot org to find out how you can help.
This has been in the deep stories that shape us.
Find this episode in others on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don't forget
to share, rate and review if you enjoyed this conversation.
(24:49):
The show is produced by Ivan Chien and mastered by
James Foster. Our show researcher is John and Raggio and
our writer is Yvette Lopez. A special shout out to
our guest Anthony Delgado. I'm your host, Zach Stafford M
Have you ever wanted a safe space where you can
just exist, where for a moment in time, you can
be you, with all the intricacies and parts of you
that people don't always understand. Welcome to end the deep
stories that shape us. I'm your host, Zach Stafford, and
each episode we create a space to be you, all
of you and all your messy and complicated glory. Every
(00:25):
story shares what it means to be a black and
Latin X man living with different hardships, whether it's a
struggle of identity, discrimination or health, and how they've managed
to push forward despite the circumstance. We hope to get closer,
even if just a little, to a road of healing
and understanding. Hi, everyone, welcome back. Today's episode is all
(00:50):
about the community I think most of us have, and
that's the chosen family. Sometimes life throws us in directions
that we don't foresee, and in some cases it leaves
us in situation sans where we don't have our family unit,
either because circumstance has forced us to keep our distance
or they've chosen not to stay. But somewhere along the way,
we start to create our own chosen tribe, handpicked and
(01:12):
selected through shared experiences. It's those friends that come up
in the unexpected times, that first day of college, that
stressful day at work, or even a fun night out
that are so special and crucial in the shaping of
who we are. Like some of us, our guest Anthony Delgado,
has a loving family, but along his own journey to
self love and redemption, he had to rely on an
(01:34):
unlikely chosen family, one that helped him get through some
tough times riddled with homelessness and addiction. Anthony was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts, and remembers the good old days, the
ones where people helped each other take care of each other.
This original community is the one that shaped his formidable years,
the one where he learned discipline, before joining the military
and before things took a drastic term. As a kid,
(01:58):
I grew up with a single power. It twelve of
us in our family. I just appreciated my brothers and
sisters and the people in my neighborhood. It was a
very back in those days. The neighborhood was a neighborhood.
If you get out of line, you're next to a
neighborhood kind of patter your but that's what I try
that today, you're going to jail. Everybody took care of
(02:19):
each other back then. I'm six and five, so coming
up as a kid, friendships meant something. It was loyalty.
The neighbors took care of each other. You have your
ballock parties and everybody brings a dish and you know,
stuff like that. But I kind of straight a lot
when I was a kid. I really didn't have the
(02:40):
discipline that I should have had. My mom was the best,
ever man. She did everything she could have raised us
the best she could. And I think about that today,
man coming up, how many times that must have broke
her heart, you know, but she still loved us. She
still loved me and she did great bringing us up.
When I was in trouble, I should tell you now
(03:03):
you're gonna be okay, you know, And it's just like
she made you feel go. She disciplined that. How do
you know? But she's not let you know that you
did okay. The best thing she did for me is
when she signed for me to go into the Marine Corps.
And I didn't want to go, but that was some
tough love. I mean, she had to let me go.
And when I got in there when they started yelling
at me, I wanted to cry and go home and
(03:24):
see my mama. They start yelling, get on them yellow footsteps,
and you knew you had just stepped into a pile
of you know what and it's about to come down
on you. I was stationed and never went overseas. I
was at Kemple, joined with my brother Stevie. Was the
Marine Corps boxing chip for two or three years. But
(03:47):
my problem started when I got out of the Marine,
and uh, I got involved in organized crime. I worked
for a friend of mine I can't say his name,
and I continue to do foolish things. I got messed
up with the wrong people and I was collecting money
for a living here and there. I traveled and I
(04:11):
did a little bit of work for some people, and
I caught in Michigan and I I had to go
away for five years. Yeah. I went to the Federal
penitentiary for five years for collection and credit stor the means.
And that's just what happened. I'm not trying to glorify that.
But when I came home after doing the five years,
(04:32):
a friend of mine told me to smoke a cigarette,
and the cigarette, which I didn't know it was weed,
which I never smoked, was laced with crack cocaine, and
that one hit sent me on a twelve year addiction. Run.
I had to get away. Um, I had some situations
(04:52):
up there that I had to get away from. So
I came to Georgia and I was living with my
cousin and uh, we were getting high and somebody took
one of my pebbles, my crack rock, and I thought
he did it, so I slapped him and I pushed
him down the stairs. He put me out and it
took me. It's called Doraville train station here directly across
(05:16):
the street from my office. And how ironic this is
is that's where my location I'm at right now. So
God brought it full circle. So when I got downtown,
I took the train downtown Atlanta. I was homeless. I
had nowhere to go. Being homeless in the South wasn't
what Anthony pictured for his life at all. But even
(05:37):
in that moment, what some would consider to be the
most desolate or lonely of times, he was able to
find a semblance of a community that helped him through
these rough days. There were two people I slept next to,
I slept on one bench and Ralph and Floyd stepped
to the right of me on benches. Right now today,
Ralph and Floyd is still sleeping under the eighty five
(05:58):
street bridge on Ella Street, still there, and I've offered
to take them and bring them off from a place
to stay, but they choose to be there. They choose
to be there. Ralph is a witness for God right now.
And he told me straight up, he said, no anything,
I don't want to go in the way. He said,
I'm doing God's work. God makes sure I'm fit and
he's keeping me healthy. He says, I lost all my teeth,
(06:22):
And I said, yeah, I see that. But the sense
of humor that he has in his state of mind
and situation that he's in, to him, that's where he's
supposed to be doing God's work, reaching the people, witnessing
the people down there, putting some hope into their lives.
To me, it's upside down. To him, he's fine, And uh,
(06:45):
I got really close with them and embraced my heart
that they're still there. But I got really close to
a lot of people down there. When you were living
in all this, where did you think you fit in
those boxes? Did you want to be there or did
you want to get out? And what about your addiction?
Were you deeper even aware that you had an addiction
at the time. First of all, I didn't ask for
(07:05):
this addiction happened. I wasn't looking for this to happen.
I thought I was just going to take a puffle
for a cigarette or a joint and it was going
to be over with. I was trapped. I basically I
got baited into this and I was bitter for a
long time. My man, how could you tell somebody to
try something that you know it's going to get them
addicted and think it's a joke. Everybody's not your friend,
(07:29):
I don't care, family, who they Everybody doesn't have your
best interests at heart. So you need to be aware
of what you're doing when you're out there. You need
to be aware with you're drinking, with, you're smoking whatever.
Don't accept none of them, nobody. That's my theory on
this whole thing. You just can't do it. At this point,
(07:50):
Anthony has been homeless for a while and one day
something mystical happens inside of a Greyhound station, of all places,
he recalls, trying to stay warm inside the bus building,
and all of a sudden, a man and woman appear,
who he believes were angels. These angels instruct Anthony to
head to the local via hospital. He's not doing well
on this particular night. He's feeling tightness in his chest.
(08:12):
He's scared to go to the hospital, but he finally
caves and follows his angel's advice. But as he follows
him out of the door, the police and other bystanders
laugh at him. There's no couple anywhere in sight. He's
finally told to purchase a bus ticket or leave, so
he begins to panhandle. Later again, another man agrees to
buy him a train ticket so he can get to
the hospital, but as he turns to thank the man,
(08:34):
something unexplainable happens. So I step on the train. I
turned around and then I want to say thank you,
and he's gone. There's no way in the world as
a man could have got up the top of the escalator.
If anybody's been in Atlanta, they know at five points
you gotta walk over there first about it. He was going.
(08:56):
I did what he told me. I got to the hospital.
They would rush me to row me totally close off.
I v me. I stayed there for five days. So
the fifth day the nurse came up to me, or
the fourth day the nurse comes up. She said, Mr Dogado,
She says, how would you like to go into a
rehab program? I says, for what I said, I wasn't
(09:18):
feeling good, that's all. I don't need no rehab program.
She said. That's the first step of denial. You're in denial,
she says. But if you don't go into the program,
you're gonna be back on the streets tomorrow. So two
things are gonna happen in good bed or the streets.
And uh. I opted to go into the program, and
it was the best thing I did. You had to
(09:40):
go to church, you had to get a job, you
had a program. And I was still pretty much addicted.
I guess I still had the cravings. Started going to
church and they're talking about baptizing me. And I said,
hold it, I said, I'm from north I'm baptized already.
Pastor looked at me, he said, as well, Brother Anthony,
(10:01):
let me tell you something. I don't forget it. He
said that don't come. You got sprinkled. You gotta go
down in the water. I told him, hold on a minute, passed,
I'm down south with all you Holy rollers. Are always
talking about baptism and going in water. That's all I've
been here. He says. No, he says, if you do
what I asked you to do, and you as an adult,
(10:23):
except Christ as your savior, he said, you will see
a difference in your life. And I got baptized in
Jesus name. I came out of that water. Yeah, I
came out of that water, and it was like something
(10:44):
come over me. The community that Anthony created while a
house meant a lot to him, even if the circumstances
were unfortunate. At first, giving back to this chosen family
of sorts wasn't in the cards. But little did he
know that, through a few interactions with the local restaurant
and church members, he drastically changed the course of his
(11:05):
life for himself and others, ultimately finding what he calls
his purpose in life. So one day we leave church
and well, never bread, and they're throwing away bags of
bread in the pastor, says Anthony. Brother Anthony asked him,
I said, past I ain't begging for no bread. I
am asking for no breath. He looked at me, your,
(11:25):
brother Anthony, we could take it back to the church
give it to the members. I said, you had, there's
a lot of pastry, and gave it to me. But
the manager says, you have your Bible one see. I said,
I don't even know what that is. He says the
nonprofit status. Well, we can get it right off. He said,
you should get one. I said, for what? I just
want your bread today. Two weeks later, we're back there
(11:46):
again and I asked him again. He says, okay, he said,
did you apply. I says no, but I promise you
I will. So he gave me the bread. After we
passed it out, we're getting ready and throwing some away.
What are the mothers of the church? Comes up? Ye,
brother Anthony, She said, don't you throw that bread out? Again?
I said, what do you want me to do it?
She said, I want you to take it downtown. For what?
(12:07):
She should take it to the park where you used
to sleep. And again I said, I don't want to
relive that. I'm not doing it. And she said, brother Anthony,
what was the sermon about today? I said, Mother was
about obedience. She says, okay, So what are you gonna do?
You're gonna be obedient to what I'm asking you. She
had me, She knew she had me. I said, okay, Mother.
(12:29):
So I go downtown and I see Ralph, I see Florid,
I see I see all these people down there, and
I'm passing on cakes and pies and just hanging out.
And I stopped crying, and I say, thank you, Father, God.
I found my purpose in life. And then from after that,
God just started working and passed. He told me, said
(12:51):
to your obedience and everything we've asked you to do.
He said, look what God's doing for you. I said yeah.
He said, he gave you the gift of help. I said, well,
tell him to take it back. I don't want it,
he says. He God don't take back when he gives you.
He says, So you stuck with it, he said, I
told him, tell him to take it back. I don't
(13:12):
want to do this, though, But you're stuck. I mean,
you're stuck with it, but you're very passionate about it.
I'm stuck. Bro. He got you, and you seem to
like to have a lot of joy doing it. Was
it always as joyful for you? Or was it a
ride to get there to where you're excited to do
the word. It was a long ride. I had a van.
I had a start with a pair of pliers. I
(13:32):
started in my garage with two refrigerators in my apartment complex,
and they said, Mr Delgado, she said, you're gonna have
to get a license. I said why. She says, because
you're running a business. I said, not really, I'm just
giving away food to the neighbors. She says, well, management
thinks it's a business, so they're not going to give
you a license. I said, oh, yes, they will. So
I went to city Hall to the next day and
(13:55):
I applied and the lady at the front desk says,
hold on, Mr Doug God, I'll be right back. They
gave me a business license, the first time ever in
an apartment complex, right here and done within George, and
I knew God was working that. And then when we
went from the apartment complex to a small building and
I started feeling really really good about it. I really did,
(14:19):
and I said, this can't be bad. But how am
I going to fund it? I still hadn't got my
five O one seat. And I made a man named
John Eaton, and I called him. I went to go
see him he said it's going to cost about fifteen
hundred dollars. So when I come into us house, his
wife is coming down the stairs and I hear her say, John,
(14:40):
is that your client? He said yes. She says, you
need to help that man. She said, I felt annointing
on him as soon as he came in the house.
It's just what she said. He cut the price in
half for me, and he's been with me ever since.
He's been watching over my program. And yeah, it just
(15:00):
grew and grew. Now I have eight full time employees.
That's incredible. Tell me more about the people you serve.
You've told me a lot about how you got here,
who supported you, But who are the everyday people you
were with every day dealing with addiction, homelessness, all these
other things. Well, because we can't really go downtown to
(15:21):
feed the homeless no more, because they're gonna give you
a ticket for a ticket for feeding people, so we shifted.
We basically feed families in which is a major demand
right now. I mean these are working people, single parents,
like three or four kids. But they got the rent,
they got the utilities, they got car payments, and you
(15:42):
get a weekly paycheck. And if it's like bucks, you
don't have a lot left over when it comes at
the end of the month. So we're basically focusing on
families and it's been very successful. Every Friday we go
to an apartment complex and we picked one city a
month and we work with all the police departments with
(16:02):
the city that we're in. Those departments will send offices
to come out and they help us distribute the food
to families. And it's a good thing because the relationship
between the community and the police needs a bond and
if they get to talk to the offices that are there,
they get to see, hey, it's not as bad as
you think talking to these guys, you know, so it
kind of works out with them also. And uh, I
(16:26):
do hurricane relief also, I've been to New Orleans, I've
been to Florida. My box truckles whoever would need it.
Your story is so much about addiction, this kind of force,
addiction that led you on this path. What are the
stories of other folks you're you're working with? Is addiction
the common line through a lot of them? Or what
are what are the barriers are facing? No, contrary to that,
(16:46):
not at all. It's employment. It's money. Most of the
people we deal with are not addictive. There's having a
hard time right now. Most of them all single parents,
but multiple kids. And that's the sad thing about it.
When you've got a year old with four kids, little babies.
(17:09):
Most of the families don't step up to help. It's
very hotbreaking when you see that. You go to these
homes and you see the cabinets are empty. But oh,
I got a boyfriend. He loves me, but he ain't
bringing food in the house. How does he love you?
That's not love. I mean, you can't rely on him
to support your family. You've got to get step up,
(17:30):
do something, trying to find something. Listen, if you want
a job, I can tell you right across the street
right now, I tell them, and you can have a
job tomorrow morning. It's called working day. You get paid
at the every day, but it's a job and if
you go every day, that's a hours that day. But
they won't do it. They won't do it. But do
you think it's some of it? It's in my experience
(17:52):
with working with different folks in crisis. Sometimes they don't
know that they're worth fighting for, they're worth fighting to
invest in themselves. Do you see that? A similar learn
with these people I do because they have no self confidence.
They don't even know how to love themselves. So I
spend time with them, and I talked to and said,
you know what, you love yourself before you love anybody else.
Love yourself first. Then you'll be able to really love somebody.
(18:14):
Your self confidence. I can't do this. I can't. Yeah,
you can't. We are a G e d Training center free,
come get your G E D s. Whatever you come
out will help you. I know all these folks that
do not have the G wouldn't even come to They
come one time, two times and never come back. It's
like it's a challenge for them to do better for themselves.
(18:37):
And like I said, the self confidence you need, I
didn't have it, but I learned how to get it.
I learned patients. I learned how to show love because
I love myself. I didn't love myself at all. Now
I learn how to be humble and learn how to say, hey,
let me help you, what do you need? Yeah? And
I feel like these people do you have reasons or
(18:59):
why they think they're not lovable? You know? I know
with homelessness, there's a high rates of HIV positivity. So
when people are positive time, they feel like they're not
deserving of love, or that they're they don't have a job,
they don't deserve love. How do you get them to
overcome things like that? And do you see like health
as a big barrier for these people too? Yeah, that
is a big thing too. They're not on any type
of insurance or anything. They don't qualify for some stuff.
(19:24):
I mean some of them do, but they don't apply.
And you try to get them to apply to Yeah,
I'll come back and do it. Come on, We'll get
you on the computer, sit down with you can help you.
You can lead them to the water, you know what
they say, but they can't make them drink it. And
I'm not the only organization out here doing what I'm
doing as far as trying to get these people educated.
(19:44):
We have financial planning to help people, teach them how
to budget your money, how to buy a house, and
how to do these different things. So you just don't
give up. You keep trying and if you say one
or two, it did something because it was one or two,
hopefully they'll pass it along what they learned and ship
(20:07):
acknowledge that they got from from coming around here, coming
to these different classes and stuff. But I don't give up.
I come in here in the morning for five o'clock.
I prayed my building and I asked God every day,
God just put me in front of somebody that I
could plan a seed in that, another sink in water,
and let you give the increase to throughout the day.
(20:29):
Some people say that's easy to say, Yeah, it's easy
to do too. Believe in yourself and then somebody will
believe in you, even through humble and somewhat reserved beginnings.
I currently and I was founded and has kept their
doors open during difficult pandemic times. Today, the center serves
(20:52):
the community through its food bank and has even added
other services including job placements, mentorships, and a GD center,
among other programs. For Anthony, the success of the nonprofit
is centered within its core message truly putting in the
work for the people within his community. They can't just
be me. Collaboration through mo non profits should be the
(21:13):
main thing that we should be looking at, all of
us working together, but it doesn't happen. Some of these
organizations are all about their organization only. Funding is not
as free or open as everybody thinks it is. You're competing.
You're competing with organizations that probably not even doing the
work that you're doing, but because they know somebody, they're
(21:35):
getting the money. And that's the bad thing about it.
So I'm one person, one organization with some fantastic employees.
We do what we can, but we need more people
to step up. More organizations say hey, step out and
do a little bit more than what they're doing. Some
of them are doing a fantastic job. Don't get me why.
(21:56):
I mean, there's some good, good organizations out here. But
when you're when you're working alone and you try to
collaborate with somebody else, and it's a fight just to
get them to get together with you. All nonprofits need volunteers,
All nonprofits need money. Give him a couple of hours
a month, you know, or something you know, just you
(22:18):
don't even have to go to nonprofit to be nice
to somebody. Before I got this problem, I just smile
at somebody, buy somebody a cup of coffee. I did
that at Stockbucks. Most people should just look outside their
circle and say who can I help today? What organization
can I go volunteer with? Bring some clothes, buy some
(22:40):
kings to some food, bring it to one of the shelters.
There's all kinds of ways that people can get involved
with the community and specifically with Eye Care Atlanta. How
can people support you and this really important work that
you're doing every day. Well we we we Like I said,
we're basically a food based program, but we venture out
and everything. So my main prober thing right now was
(23:02):
funding to be straight up, which it's funding because we
have so much food here. We don't turn anybody, but
you don't have to be a needy person that prus
they like your cabinets are empty to get food from us.
Anybody could come. He was in Atlanta. You wanted to
come bind do some groceries and you want to go
give it to somebody. We had give it to you
because we encourage people to come pick something up and
(23:24):
bless somebody with it. But for me, my my main
kid thing is is funding here. We lost some funders
because they funded us for over three years. And if
you're in, if you're out there in our profit arena,
you know what I'm talking about. Some some funders give
you one to three years, four years. We lost three
of them this year alone, and the pandemic hasn't helped
(23:44):
none of us in the arena. That's a lot. Funding
has dropped off a lot, and that's that's what we need.
But we all well take can which we take, clothes,
we take, toilet trees, and whatever they want to do
and turn not in the wing m For some of us,
finding that balance of loving ourselves and others is a
(24:06):
lifelong search. Anthony certainly went through the ups and downs
that come with addiction, but even then he was able
to find his tribe, the people he could lean on
and learn to love despite being unhoused. And it was
this journey that led him to self love and allows
him to double down on this love towards others by
giving back every single day. If you're interested in finding
(24:27):
out more about Anthony's nonprofit, head over to I Care
Atlanta dot org to find out how you can help.
This has been in the deep stories that shape us.
Find this episode in others on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don't forget
to share, rate and review if you enjoyed this conversation.
(24:49):
The show is produced by Ivan Chien and mastered by
James Foster. Our show researcher is John and Raggio and
our writer is Yvette Lopez. A special shout out to
our guest Anthony Delgado. I'm your host, Zach Stafford M
Host
Zach Stafford
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