2 years ago today we surprised a young man who was homeless

2 years ago today we surprised a young man who was homeless at Chester’s #ShareShop on his birthday!

David had been living on the streets of Chester for sometime and was visiting the shop daily after it opened just weeks earlier, the ShareShop became a lifeline to him and he was given warm clothes, toiletries, fresh fruit, warm drinks bought for him and others by members of the public, and food which is donated to the shop, by Sainsbury’s each day.

Sadly David was suffering from a very serious alcohol addiction. His addiction was so severe in fact, his doctors had told him that if he carried on drinking he would very shortly die.

Soon after this picture of David was taken, and with daily care, love and support from the teams at both SHARE and CATH, David made the decision to go cold turkey altogether and do whatever he could to quit drinking once and for all, and try to get his life, and health back. 

With cold sweats and physically shaking from the withdrawal from alcohol, David gave an emotional radio interview to Chester’s Dee 106.3’s Gavin Matthews live on the air, thanking the charities for supporting him and promising that he would turn his life around. He asked listeners to the show to call in and Suspend purchases of coffee and clothes for others who where on the streets to access.

Well today is David’s birthday again! and he came back to visit us all at the shop. 🎉Except this year David has totally transformed his life, he gave up the drink completely! He got suited and booted by the team at the ShareShop and got himself a full time job following an interview, in fact he’s now a fully qualified forklift truck operator for a local landscape supplies business who also provided him with a house to rent deposit free, and helped him to get off his benefits altogether, and now thrives on the feeling of dignity by working and earning his money as part of a team each day. 

It’s fair to say that David is one in a million! most people with such a severe addiction to alcohol and the health issues related to it, wouldn’t have been able to kick it, and would have given up long ago. David is an inspiration to us all, he recognised that he had a serious problem and fought hard to get his life back... and succeeded!