Service after being served

By Troy Hill

After losing his home, Samuel Markle didn’t know what to do with his life, but he felt like he needed a fresh start.

“I just didn’t have a plan,” Samuel said. “I took a bus from Fresno, California, to Mesa because I just didn’t know where to go, to be honest.” 

But things in the Valley didn’t shape up quite as well as he had been hoping. He stayed in hotels at first but quickly ran out of savings before he was able to find a job. 

Before he knew it, Samuel found himself living on the street in the lead up to the deadliest time of year: The summer. 

“I didn’t think about water when I was living in my house, it's just like, let me go to the sink, let me get some water,” he said. 

“But when you don't always have access to it, it's just like eating minimal food, minimal water, just trying to make it stretch as far as possible. One sip for the next three, four hours, just to make sure I have enough. I don't know how hot it's going to be tomorrow.”

Fortunately, things didn’t last this way for long. After two months on the street (an eternity from one perspective, but relatively short for so many in SVdP’s shelters), Samuel had an encounter that would send his life in a new direction. 

He was bedding down for the night at a new spot when a security guard told him he couldn’t stay at that spot.

“I was out of savings, and at the end of the rope, so I just asked him, ‘Hey, like, where do people go?’” Sam said. 

“I thought he was going to send me to an encampment, but he made a phone call, and he told me, ‘Hey, listen, they say they have a bed for you down at the St. Vincent de Paul’s Phoenix Dining Room on Key Campus.’”

The guard gave him directions, and when Sam got there, the dining room's overflow emergency shelter had one bed left. He was able to stay.

“It was a relief,” Samuel said.

From the Phoenix Dining Room, Samuel was connected to another partner organization where he was able to get more long term housing, and was connected to Veterans Affairs because he's a Marine veteran. From the VA, he worked with his case manager to find an apartment, and is now rehoused in downtown Phoenix and loving his new place.

But throughout all the rehousing process, he never forgot that he spent those first few weeks at SVdP’s overflow shelter, and continued coming to the Phoenix Dining Room to volunteer in the kitchen, despite his circumstances.

“I made my first buddy down there, Danny. He's an elderly guy, in a wheelchair. He just needed some help, and there were a couple other people around, and nobody was helping him. I'm like, ‘Wait, why isn't anybody helping him? And then I just thought to myself, why aren't you?’” Samuel said. “That's kind of why I kept showing up.”

During his tenure of volunteering at SVdP, he met Water Truck Program Supervisor Joseph Yanez, who is in charge of loading the Celebrity Fight Night Water Truck and taking it throughout the Valley every day to hand out life-saving resources like water, food, clothing and hygiene items to people experiencing homelessness. 

Joseph told Samuel about the water truck, and he was immediately interested, signing up to volunteer on Saturdays. Not long after, a staff position on the water truck became available and Joseph rushed to Samuel to get him to volunteer. 

Quickly after that, Samuel had gainful employment as a new SVdP Water Truck Outreach Navigator, tagging along to help Joseph make connections with community members in need and make sure they have what they need to make it another day.

“It’s my favorite job that I’ve had so far. I like connecting with the people. I think I'm right where I need to be. I like that I'm doing impactful work,“ Samuel said.  

“I got an apartment. I got everything I need. But that doesn't mean we stop working hard, right? You're still getting after it.”

Samuel said he doesn’t know where he’d be if it hadn’t been for that encounter with SVdP. All his time inspires him to try and make a difference in the lives of the people he meets daily on the water truck.

“It's scary almost to think like, ‘Whoa, where, where would I be?’ Especially because, you know, we work so closely within the community. I see myself out there daily. I just got blessed,” he said. 

“It was all St. Vincent and God, so I appreciate everything that this organization did and all the different entities that came together to help me out. “