This Labor Day Monday 2011 started as most mornings for me. Coffee. Check email. Decide whats for breakfast. Make a conscious effort to not answer the phone or log into Facebook or Twitter. Then my phone rings. Its the owner of the business above my office. I decide to let it go into voice mail thinking “why would he be calling me on Labor Day? Our building is closed.” 60 seconds after my phone alerted I had a new voice mail I decide to check it – thinking he’s either wishing me a happy holiday or a reminder to pay my rent first thing in the morning. The voice mail said “Brian! Call me right away. Your office has been burglarized. I’m here now. Hurry!!!!”

My jaw hit the ground. First thing I thought was “We have to start ALL OVER…” That was the worst feeling in the world thinking everything you’ve worked sooooo hard to obtain (building, office furniture, donated items, computers, projectors, phones, etc) were all STOLEN. It took a moment to calm my thoughts and just get in the car. I immediately had Kelly Adolph call/text Carlos O’Banion to get to the office asap since he lives only a few miles away. Kelly and I discussed all possible scenarios (the bad ones) – Everything gone. Computer system gone. Fire or water damage. Client files damaged. We decided to not discuss it any more during the 30 min drive. Instead I thought “bigger and better things are going to come of this somehow – no matter whats missing or damaged”.

We arrived to a scene that didnt look all that bad. A broken window on the front door. All doors are barred except for our front door. Its a steel door with a 12″x12″ security window in it (these windows can be broken but you cant crawl through the space). A crowbar was used instead to pry the doorknob guard. Blood was smeared everywhere from smashing the glass. Kelly, Carlos and myself did a walk through. I went directly to the most valuable items in the office to find that they were still there. Untouched. Kelly noticed that only certain items were missing while Carlos had already taken an inventory before we arrived. Most all of the supplies we give to our homeless clientele was missing along with a non-working laptop and an inoperable DVD player. The refrigerator had been raided. My toolbox was missing.

So far, so good.

This told me a few things:

The burglar was on foot (no vehicle).
It was one person.
They couldn’t carry the large items (tv’s, computers, copiers, etc)
Valuable (small items) were either overlooked or unwanted.
The person was injured from breaking the glass, leaving blood everywhere he went in the office.

The first thing that came to our minds was one particular individual we dealt with a few days prior. One of our clients. We didnt want to think it was him, so we decided to trace over everything one more time. We thought of every client that had gone pass a certain point in our office (usually no one is allowed beyond the intake/assessment and case management office located midway through the building). Things missing were mosty from the rear of the offices where this particular client had gone in the past few days.

Fox2 Detroit News channel shows up to interview us.

Click link below to see video :
DO Foundation Burglarized – Fox2 News
or goto ==> www.youtube.com/thedofoundation

About our (my) suspect:

Last Thursday while standing outside of the office (soaking up some sun since our AC keeps it chilly in thee office) a gentleman pushing a cart approaches. He looks at our sign and asks “What do you guys do here?”. I said we help people. Homeless people. Anyone that needs help.He chuckled and pointed to his cart and said “Well man. I’m homeless”. He smiled. I told him “its both our lucky day…” and invited him in. We talked for a bit in the lobby then I introduced him to many people since this particular day we had about 70 people in the office (all volunteers preparing for our homeless outreach for the weekend). He was given a small office tour. He then informed me that the things in his cart was his job. Car cleaning supplies. He made it a point to let everyone know he’s homeless but doesnt beg for money. Instead, he WORKS for his money. He washed 6 cars in our parking lot that day. He told us its the most money he’s made in one day in a many months of being homeless. He was sincere. Cordial. Had a sense of humor and a very hard worker. After paying him I asked when was the last time he had eaten. 3 days since his last “real” meal. So, Carlos and I took him to McDonalds (his choice). He kept saying God must be looking out for him to put him in the path of DO Foundation. I asked what else we could do for him and he asked if we’d buy him more car cleaning supplies. We did. Drove him there. Let him do the shopping. We covered the bill. He was a happy man. He asked to be dropped off in the park where he could make more money washing cars for the holiday. That was the last we seen of him.

I’m sure we will see him again in our office. If he is the burglar I plan on NOT pressing charges. Why? Because during our car drive he opened up to us. He mentioned how hard life has been for him. He made a statement similar to “I’m a human being and sometimes I have to do things I’m not proud of just to survive…” Because of that statement I’ve decided this is the kind of person that doesnt belong in jail. I UNDERSTAND IT. He lives in an abandoned house and owns nothing more than the items in his cart.

It does break my heart a bit knowing of all the places you can rob it was us – DO Foundation – a place thats in business to help ALL PEOPLE. That saddens me. I hope to see him again. Talk with him. Try to understand more.

Our mission continues.

-Brian

[caption id="attachment_40" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Damaged front door."][/caption]

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