Barney Chapman had been homeless off and on for about 17 years until two months ago when Kate Monroe found him living under a tarp in Oceanside. But where California and its billions of dollars earmarked for homeless services failed, the local activist took action, providing Chapman with shelter and reuniting him with a sister he hadn’t seen in decades.
“If two regular people can do this, why can’t all of our billions of dollars do more?” Kate Monroe asked Fox News.
‘YOU’D BETTER NOT DISAPPEAR NO MORE’: WATCH EMOTIONAL REUNION BETWEEN HOMELESS MAN AND HIS SISTER:
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Monroe is the CEO of VetComm, which has a nonprofit arm helping homeless veterans obtain disability compensation and transition into housing. In early May, she interviewed dozens of people living on the streets of San Diego and Oceanside, hoping to gain a better understanding of the region’s homeless crisis.
Barney, a 65-year-old man who lost his leg in a car accident prior to becoming homeless, was the final person she interviewed. A local news station aired the video and, the next morning, Barney’s sister called Monroe after friends saw the clip and recognized her long-lost sibling.
“The guy with the helmet in a wheelchair,” Marjorie Chapman said on Monroe’s recorded business line. “That’s the brother I’ve been looking for, for like 25 years.”
On Sunday, she came to California to see her brother.
“You’d better not disappear no more, that’s all I’ve got to say because I need you in our life,” she said, tearfully embracing Barney. “I don’t ever want to see a picture of you lying on the side of a hill in the grass again.”
Monroe says the reunion was “like a fairy tale ending,” but she’s upset with the city for “100%” failing Barney.
‘WHERE DO I SIGN UP?’ SAN DIEGO HOMELESS WOMAN SAYS THEY’RE ‘SPOILED’ WITH FREE STUFF, PHONES
When she first met Barney, he gave her a business card from an employee with the city department responsible for helping homeless people…
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