When Roderick Green arrived at the Volunteers of America Michigan homeless shelter in Lansing, he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t even write his name. A stroke had left Green without use of the right side of his body.
On Monday, a little more than a year after he first arrived, Green was not only able to walk, but was the first resident at the shelter to personally greet a man who — in the words of the Patrick Patterson, the vice president of operations for Volunteers of America Michigan — performed the “most extraordinary and most intentional single physical event that anyone has ever done” for the shelter.
Phillip Katzmann, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., resident, finished a four-day, 73 mile walk from the Volunteers of America administration building in Southfield, Mich., down Grand River Avenue, through downtown East Lansing and to the Lansing shelter in order to raise money for the homeless.
“What he’s doing is quite amazing,” Patterson said. “I think people are impressed by such a huge effort for this intention.”
Walk for a cause
It was a standard family summer vacation for Katzmann and his wife. The family recently had moved from South America to Michigan to be with Katzmann’s father-in-law and was taking a trip around northern Michigan.
But while the vacation was meant for sightseeing, what stuck with Katzmann was not sand dunes or cherry trees. It was the signs, which advertised vacancies, leases, closed businesses and empty houses — the recession’s ground zero.
Katzmann, who now resides in Oakland County — the wealthiest county in Michigan — was shocked at the poverty in other areas of the state.
“I saw all these problems. Eighty thousand people in Michigan are homeless,” Katzmann said. “I thought, ‘What can I do to help?’”
To answer the question, Katzmann ran a search on the Internet. Through it, he found Volunteers of America, a nonprofit organization helping the underprivileged. He initially planned to become a part of its Adopt A Family program, which provides presents to families during Christmas time. But after visiting the shelter, Katzmann found himself wanting to do more.
He had heard stories of people who walked for causes in the past. He had hiked trails in Greece and along the Pacific coast.
Why not raise money doing something he loved?
“We all have a strength,” Katzmann said. “I think we can all add some little part to do something for these people.”
The route
At 9 a.m. Friday morning, Katzmann took his first steps toward Lansing. On his back was about 42 pounds of equipment — sleeping bag, tent, sandwiches, water and a few sheets of paper with a route from Google Maps.
He had 73 miles to go. Twenty-four before he would stop for the night and pitch a tent outside, only to find icicles hanging from it the next morning.
Katzmann made the journey with a variety of family members, friends and strangers. His wife and Patterson accompanied him for the first few miles. Outside of Webberville, Mich., he met a man he knows only as Gordon who recognized him as the “man walking to Lansing” and stopped to talk to him before driving on. And his children walked the final mile with him.
People at two churches and one fire department let Katzmann pitch his tent on their property for the night. They welcomed him with food, a place to sleep and a shower — all of which Katzmann turned down. He wanted the “full experience,” right down to the bathrooms.
But despite the welcoming faces, friendly honks from passing drivers and calls on a special cell phone from family and friends, Katzmann developed a feeling of separation from the rest of the world.
“Walking the road is beautiful and free, but there’s an isolation,” Katzmann said. “I think the homeless people feel completely separate as an underclass.”
Thoughts of the homeless were always with Katzmann. They have been for the last several months. Ever since moving to Michigan, neither Katzmann nor his wife have been able to find employment as teachers. In South America, they had jobs high in the school’s administration. But there aren’t any in Michigan.
“We’re all a few steps from homelessness and joblessness,” Katzmann said.
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‘More guys like that’
At noon on Monday, Green stood outside the Volunteers of America, squinting down the sidewalk, watching four specks a block away move toward him.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Green said. “I couldn’t believe that a person would walk this far.”
Green was not alone. Two dozen residents and staff at the shelter were present to welcome Katzmann to his final destination.
They shook his hand as he completed the last steps and came up to him afterward to congratulate him — to thank him.
As of Friday, Katzmann had raised $1,500 for the shelter. The funds will be donated to the Overnight Emergency Shelter program, which provides residents with a place to sleep as well as breakfast and dinner.
Being homeless is more than merely living in uncertainty without a place to call home — it’s dangerous. Homeless men are five times more likely to die than those with homes. For women, the number doubles, Patterson said.
The Lansing shelter has been overcrowded since fall 2008. In 2009, it did not have enough beds for all the people its services were offered to.
Since the economic recession, every bit counts.
Katzmann already is planning how he’ll help next — a 24-hour walk at a school track to raise money. It comes as no surprise to his wife, Katy Katzmann.
“Phillip always thinks really big,” Katy Katzmann said. “We might only be (in Michigan) for a couple of years. … We have to do something while we’re here.”
But to residents of the Volunteers of America shelter such as Green, something has already been done. “He’s got to be a saint from God,” Green said of Phillip Katzmann.
“He’s awesome. If we could get more guys like that — God! Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world?”
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