Michael McCutcheon

Fifteen, going on 16 years, I have worked with people who suffer from mental disorders, drug addiction, and, therefore, homelessness.

I had never read a book on how to help a homeless person - or how to approach a drug addict.

I’ve been homeless a couple of times myself.  It was due to my drug use. The difference between when I was homeless and the average homeless person today is that I was alone. I was clean and tidy. I never asked for help. I was in hiding.

Working with people today, I have a pretty good idea of what is going on. Either in their head or in the lifestyle that they live, the one thing I have learned is that you can’t tell them anything.  They are just like teenagers. They already know it.

My best approach is to love them. Love them just where they are. I don’t have to love what they do or how they act. Just love them.

One of the ways I show my love for them is by cooking a good, healthy meal. Food has been a tool that people have used for years to show love and create community.  We all do it on Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, birthdays. It’s a way to a person’s heart.

I wish I had some competition out there — others that were feeding and loving on this community. It’s fascinating to hear some of the things people say about the homeless community.  The anger that comes out in their social media postings. It makes me wonder: Is this anger fear-based? What is it that makes a person so disrespectful? So judgmental.

We’re all created equal.  We were created to love. This world that we live in, I feel for the next generation. They will never know what it is like to be nice to each other. To love one another. To respect other people’s thoughts or beliefs. Why do we all have to think one way?

I try to apply this to my life as much as I can. It’s from the big book of AA.

 Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation – some face of my life – unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes.

So, I ask of you: Should people be homeless? No, not at all. Are people homeless? Yes, they are. For me to get stuck on the fact that we have homeless people and we shouldn’t have them, it doesn’t do any good. For me to accept the fact that people are homeless is for me to accept life on life’s terms. Only then can I work with and love on the homeless people in our community.

The encampment behind the DSHS building needs to be relocated.  Where to? No one has the answer to that question. When is the encampment to be moved by?  The city manager and the city council have set a date of Nov. 3, 2025.

We, Reach Out, have been providing hot meals to this location for more than two years. It is my knowledge that we have 28 to 30 people living there full-time. On Sept. 22, Reach Out interviewed each one of the residents, asking if they had a place to go and instructing them that the move-out date had been set.

Out of the 28 residents that we spoke with on Monday, two do not want to live in a structure, building or campground. One is incapable of a two-way conversation. Five of the residents have previously lived in the Caswell Brown Campground and were removed due to drug and/or behavioral problems. The balance? They have no idea where to go. The city manager, John, called me today (Sept. 25).  It’s his job to make sure this camp is closed and cleaned up. John expressed concern about progress and how the relocation was going. John said we need all providers to come together to make this happen. I reminded him that it’s hard to do this when the only mental health provider we have doesn’t believe this homeless community has a drug and/or mental health problem. We will see where progress is in the coming weeks.

Michael McCutcheon is the founder of Reach Out, a volunteer effort that provides hot meals and outreach to people experiencing homelessness in Jefferson County.