Making Ricardo's day!

Meet Ricardo, a man who was originally from the Dominican Republic but has traveled all across America. He was more comfortable speaking Spanish and luckily, Dawn and I were able to converse with him in Spanish. The first thing he told us was that he was only used to young people speaking to him… something Dawn jokingly replied with, “Hey, does that mean I’m old?!” We all had a good laugh! As a kind and talkative man, Ricardo told us of his travels from the West Coast to the Midwest and eventually to New York. He told us of how he survived the cold months in Seattle by living in a green house. He then went to Los Angeles, then Missouri, then Indiana, and finally ended up in New York City. He told us of the struggles he encountered as a Spanish-speaking homeless man throughout the country. Ricardo wanted to let everyone know that he is not a mean or violent person regardless of what people may hear or believe. When people donate food to him, he saves some to give to others. He has been jumped many times before while recycling bottles. When we asked Ricardo how his day was going, he told us that he had been in despair, but that “today was a good day” because someone wanted to talk to him and hear his story. We hope we could brighten your day, Ricardo, because you surely brightened ours!