Volunteer Nicole Bahena talks with Vincent outside his tent near Lower Wacker and Lower Michigan as people collect data for a homelessness count on Jan. 25, 2024. Bahena works at the nonprofit All Chicago.
In my view, they desperately needed water, food, decent rest and some medical care without delay. I have a soft spot for people experiencing homelessness because I have been homeless and I know what it is like to ask for money and be ignored. It takes energy to ask for help. It even takes energy when none of what you do works. I wondered, as I felt waves of emotion, what I had looked like in that position when no help came.
Feeling for him, I drove up to where he stood in the intersection, glad that the always-long traffic light would hold me there for a while. I rolled down my window and told him that I had only a bagel. He accepted my bagel with thanks. I asked his name and his age. When he answered, “Tim, 48,” I saw that most of his teeth were gone. All things considered, he looked at least 65.