This was quite an emotional day. On a regular basis, we like to take a guest for a sit-down lunch in a local cafe. If you’re homeless, sleeping on the streets is tough for many reasons and one of them is the loneliness and isolation that come with it. Sitting down one on one allows our guests to feel special, even if it’s only for a short time. We always have great conversation.

It’s difficult for anyone sleeping rough, but women face additional challenges on the street. This particular guest has been estranged from her family for quite a few years. She spoke glowingly of her only child, a son who lives in another country. She told us that she’s tried for years to find out how and where he was, but she couldn’t and faced hurdle after hurdle. In addition to her daily struggle to find food and a safe place to sleep, she copes with some mental health issues.

She told us about his childhood, how she was a very young mother who had a hard time coping with a baby and about many of her regrets in life. All of us make mistakes and have things we wish we could do over.

As she was describing how wonderful and handsome her son was, as only a mother could do, our incredible volunteer @tashsoodeen took out her phone and searched for him on social media. A short time later she found a photo, which she showed to our guest, and what followed was a muffled scream and a few minutes of nonstop tears. It was him and they are the spitting image of each other. She was so overcome with emotion that she couldn’t speak.

This photo captured the moment that she needed and received a big hug from Tash. It can be easy to forget that homeless people have families, have stories, have history and, regardless of how they might have ended up in these positions, deserve to be loved, just like anyone else.

Although she gave us permission to write about her story and post an unedited photo, we’ve blurred out her face. We’re happy to say that we’re currently working on arranging communication between these two and we hope to have a happy and positive update sometime very soon. Thank you to every person & every company that support our work. Nothing that we do is possible without you.