When I met Joshua Johnson six years ago, it was outside a Baytown motel. He was staying there temporarily.

He said at the time, “I was living at an RV park. Me and my friend were staying there. He lit a cigarette and threw it at the propane tank. It had a hose leak, and it blew up. The whole bedroom caught on fire. From there, it all went down hill. Ever since then, I haven’t really had a place to live. I’ve stayed with friends. I’ve slept at bus stops. I’ll get on the bus and go to the back to sleep. I fall asleep at the library sometimes. I’m on the waiting list for low-income housing. Recently, I’ve been staying at this motel.”

You may see Joshua around town, riding his black bike while listening to his favorite country tunes from Alan Jackson and George Strait. These days, he has a place to call home.

I caught up with him last week, across the street from an apartment complex. A friend from church helped him secure a spot there nearly three years ago.

“It’s great. I’m staying warm at night. I’m taking showers. I’m cooking real food. And I can actually make coffee.”

The basics that many of us take for granted are much more than that for people in the community who find themselves living on the streets. Joshua has been there and done that.

As he told me back in 2016, “We prefer not to be called homeless. We like to be treated like regular, normal human beings. We’re just having a tough time. We’re just trying to survive day to day.”

These days, for Joshua, life is a little more normal.

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The post It feels ‘great’ to be off the streets appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I’m from Louisiana, north of New Orleans. My husband works in the plants as a crane and forklift operator, welder and whatever else they need him to do.

“He’s been traveling for work for years. When I was still teaching, I would go with him occasionally during the summertime. But since I retired, we’ve traveled together quite a bit. We’ve been to Wyoming, Salt Lake City, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia — just all over. And I’m enjoying it tremendously. While he works, I like to read, people watch, bike ride, and just whatever else I decide to do.

“I was raised in a large family with seven children, and we were all close in age. So I was always around a lot of people. But now, there’s nobody around that I know. So it’s my time now. That’s a very big difference. I have a lot of quiet time to think and do just about anything. Before, you had to kind of go along with the crowd, whether that was brothers and sisters, or 25 kids in the classroom and 50 teachers in the school system. You kind of had to compromise. But now, out here, I don’t have to compromise at all. I can do whatever I want.”

And what is it that you want?
“I don’t really know yet. I’m still looking.”

— Elizabeth Rick

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The post She’s on the road again — and loving it appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was a cop for years, and I always enjoyed doing stuff for kids. If some kid came up to me and told me that his bicycle was stolen, I’d go find him another one. That’s kind of how it all started.

“For 16 years now, I’ve been fixing up bikes that people donate and giving them to kids whose families can’t afford them. I gave away about 500 bikes last Christmas.

“I wear my red shirt and my Santa Claus hat, and I tell them, ‘My name is Fat Mac Claus. Santa’s at the North Pole making toys, but he’s got me here watching you. Have you been good?’

“I get one hell of a thrill out of it. Seeing the smiles on those kids’ faces, that’s what keeps me going.”

— Ken “Fat Mac” Williamson

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• Despite health issues, ‘Fat Mac’ keeps on going

The post ‘Fat Mac’ ensures kids have bikes for Christmas appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I turned 76 last month. Never thought I’d live this long. I’ve had a bunch of medical problems. Right now, it’s my legs. I’ve got peripheral artery disease, where the veins get all stopped up. I’m hoping I can do away with this walker pretty soon.

“I know I’m not going to live forever, though, so I decided to get a cemetery plot and a tombstone. I live by myself, so I wanted to take care of it in advance.

“But I don’t plan to go anywhere just yet. To be honest with you, I’ve seen too many people retire, come home, sit in their recliner and die. I encourage everybody to get up and do something. I plan to just make myself go for as long as I can, and thank God every day I wake up.”

— Ken “Fat Mac” Williamson

Related:

• ‘Fat Mac’ ensures kids have bikes for Christmas

The post Despite health issues, ‘Fat Mac’ keeps on going appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“These are my grandbabies. We decided we’re in a little bicycle club. They call it EEL. It’s not spelled quite right, but it’s from the first letters of our names: Eric, Layne and Liam.

“I started riding to get in shape. I need to lose a little bit of weight and get my wind back. Just running around with them helps. I hang out with them every day. We do all kinds of stuff. I just turned 50, so they help keep me young.”

— Eric Bush

The post These grandchildren help keep him young appeared first on The Baytown Project.