“I’d learned how the business world works and shared that with Rodney.” -Todd Demonte
because of Todd’s recommendations!
out and befriended these people, heard their stories, and figured out from ground zero how to do something to help them. And he's it's been successful; it's been building on itself. It started slowly—he got some wins, and he got more and more wins, and now he's got more facilities and more living space for these guys.” He adds that, eventually, Rodney would like to add women’s services as well. It takes a village—and sometimes a family member too. “One of my daughters helps by making chocolate chip banana bread for the guys.” How sweet! Literally.
And Todd is still hands-on with the business end of things, as well as breaking stigmas. “To communicate what Rodney’s doing, you have to overcome this mental barrier people currently have about the homeless, and share that there is a success story and there is a path toward getting these people back on track. . .” Not all homeless are there because of drugs or mental illness: “There are people who lost their house, they were living in their car, and then their car got towed, they lost their car and now they're homeless. . . Many of these people want to be back and functioning in society, but they just don’t have that first month's rent, that deposit. You need a mailing address; you need stability to land that job. You need to be able to shower; you need clean clothes.” Todd explains Rodney’s choice of serving men as opposed to women and children: “Rodney found a niche, an under- served group of the population, which are homeless men who want to get back into society. He felt there were many opportunities for women but not so much for men, so he went
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