‘Whenever I call, Ben picks up’: A friendship born from loneliness

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Ben Hughes and Roger Collins had little in common at first. Mr. Hughes is an Orioles fan, while Mr. Collins backs the Giants. One moved to San Francisco to work in a health care startup; the other came for the city’s health care services. Mr. Hughes was living in an apartment. Mr. Collins was living in a homeless shelter. 

The two became unlikely friends. They bonded over sharing dispatches from two very different walks of life, seen from the same San Francisco sidewalks.

They met through Miracle Messages, a Bay Area nonprofit that helps people rebuild relationships – and form new ones. Its phone-buddy program pairs volunteers with people experiencing homelessness in an effort to alleviate social isolation.

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In San Francisco, an approach that gifts cellphones to homeless people – with someone on the other end – helps to forge human connection.

“I learn a lot more from Roger’s perspective about San Francisco’s issues than I do from the media,” says Mr. Hughes in an interview at the San Francisco Public Library. “He’s actually living with it and seeing it every day.” 

Beside him, Mr. Collins maneuvers his red mobility chair to face Mr. Hughes. “A lot of people don’t understand what being homeless means. Some people don’t even want to be around you. But whenever I call, Ben picks up,” he shares. “He’s always been there for me.”

Combating relational poverty

California’s homeless population of nearly 200,000 needs housing and help finding it, but “More than anything, they need a human connection and recognition that they are worthy of support,” says Howard Koh, chair of the Initiative on Health and Homelessness at Harvard University’s Chan School of Public Health. “Efforts like Miracle Messages give all of us hope that there’s a way forward instead of just feeling overwhelmed by the challenge.”

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