Poverty comes close to home on Main Street

Jerry White, 19, and John Hamel, 46, sit side-by-side at a folding table in the rear room of the Newark United Methodist Church on Main Street. John is eating Ramen noodles out of a Styrofoam bowl and Jerry is reading a book that he borrowed from the Newark Public Library.

The church, settled between California Tortilla and Grassroots Handmade Crafts on Main Street, provides the facility, free of charge, to the Newark Empowerment Center — a non-profit organization that provides food, clothing, financial assistance and shelter to people living in poverty. White and Hamel are both homeless.

The center is one of 12 branches operated and staffed by The Friendship House, a nonprofit organization committed to helping the homeless population of New Castle. According to its Web site, they believe "the homeless are the people that nobody catches." So they have held their hands out.

The center opens its doors from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. as a sanctuary for the homeless, giving them access to clean restrooms, a hot cup of coffee, a bowl of soup and a phone call.

On Thursday, the center donated money to a single mother of four, Diane Hawkins, 49, to keep from being evicted from her home.

Marc Marcus, assistant executive director of the Newark Empowerment Center, also called Hawkins' landlord and made negotiations about payment plans, she said.

"They are life savers — literally," Hawkins said.

White has been coming to the center at least once a week for more than a year. He has been without a permanent address since he left his mother's house in Dover at age 16.

He said he learned about the center from his older sister, Izzy, 21, who also lived in poverty after leaving home.

"When I first came here, I had trouble getting food and they helped me with that. They give you amounts of food that could get you through the day," White said.

White suffers from ADHD and bipolar disorder. His younger sister, Samantha, 14, who still lives with his mother, has autism.

In a way, he said Samantha is the reason he left home. He said living with his sister heightened both of their mental illnesses.

"It was hard for me at 16 and being all rebellious, dealing with a little sister who was 14 and acted like she was 4," he said. "My mind was just like crazy and I realized it wasn't good for her, and I knew I shouldn't get angry, but I was."

When he still lived at home, White said if a glass of milk spilled he would become infuriated and start punching the walls.

"There are a lot of holes because of me," he said.

Despite living below the poverty line, White said he is doing better now and is optimistic about his future.

"Most kids my age are in high school or going into college and I'm not where most of them, the majority of the United States, are because I took a slightly different route. I don't have a steady job, I don't have a car, I don't have a house or anything," he said. "But I'm more fortunate than lots of others, and I'm thankful of that. It could always be worse, always."

White's parents divorced when he was 4 years old, and his father now rents an apartment in Bear. Jerry said he cannot live with his father because his father's landlord will not let another adult live there without an income.

"As an adult I have to be working and paying rent. It's just the way the landlord is and he just got this apartment," he said. "He wanted to get a different apartment, but I told him, ‘I'll be alright. I'm young. Let's let you get your thing going.' I don't really think of myself that often. I've always put others before me."

White said he is having difficulty finding a job, which keeps him in poverty.

"It's hard to get a job in almost any town. I mean Delaware has one of the worst job acceptance ratings like, and I've never had a job, so it's like that vicious cycle that everybody says," he said. "You need a job to have experience to get a job, which doesn't make sense in its whole self."

White said he has applied to every store on Main Street, with no luck. However, he finds an upside to his homelessness. He said being young has given him an appreciation for older people in poverty, like Hamel.

"I mean it sounds mean to say that, but realistically when you look at it, I have a lot more going for me than someone in their 50s or 60s," he said.

Hamel has been homeless for the greater part of his life. He said he slipped into homelessness, like many people do.

"Just too many bills I couldn't pay. When I was making the money I had more to spend. That was the problem. So as I made more and more of it, I was getting less back and it was just too late," Hamel said. "I was on a ski slope without skis."

Hamel said he just stumbled into the center one day. He comes here mostly for a hot cup of coffee and companionship. He said being homeless can be lonely.

"Well, sleeping outside is not fun for one thing," he said. "When it's dark you can't read, you can't really have a fire because it draws too much attention."

Hamel said he looks forward to the day he has an address again.

"It will come in time, I guess," he said. "This world is about luck."

Hamel visualizes a life of luxury as a life with no worries.

"If I hit the Powerball, I'll go live in Disney World," he said. "No, I'd get 1,000 acres in Wyoming and raise cattle. I'll be selling steak. I won't be there, my managers will. I'll be out on my yacht. With all that money, I wouldn't have to worry anymore."

Hawkins, the mother of four, said she knows what it's like to worry. She lost all of her money when the stocks went down, she was out of work, her 15-year-old daughter had medical issues and she received an eviction notice that said she had 24 hours to pay $3,400.