William Baynard is a 66-year-old veteran originally from Lakewood, NJ. William served in the army at Fort Dix for two years when he was a young man. After his time serving with the army, he was incarcerated for some time. From there, he moved around; spending time working as a machine operator in Lakewood, Delaware, and finally settling in Camden with his son–one of four children whom William does not keep much contact with.
William has been housing and food insecure for more than 3 years in the Camden area. When he is not here at Cathedral Kitchen, he lives in a tent or spends time at Joseph’s House. When he decided to take initiative and get his life back on track, William was overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork and administration necessary, on top of the effort he devotes to just surviving and staying safe.
William had already given up when, in a last-ditch effort, he decided to reach out to one of the social services professionals here at CK, Hayde, during our dinner service. “Hayde helped me much faster and got more results than when I was trying to work with the government directly,” shared William.
In under six months, William had secured SNAP benefits, a new ID, a birth certificate, and social security support. Hayde and William are also looking at promising options for housing, hoping to secure this in the coming months. In addition to the administrative support Hayde offers, William gets meals and personal care items from CK and gets his mail delivered here.
William does not take advantage of social services outside of CK. In his older age, he only spends time in places where he feels safe and peaceful: in his tent and at CK. Despite his current hardships, William has an incredibly positive outlook on life and uses humor to get through the tougher days. He shared many wise words with us.
“This place keeps me in a good mood,” said William. “It’s too easy to think about what’s happened in the past and get stuck in that dark place that doesn’t serve you. But tomorrow is an untouched day–why would I bring my troubles from yesterday or today into tomorrow?”
