KAPA‘A — Money lost and returned went to benefit the homeless of Kaua‘i last week. John Adkins was sitting at work on Friday when a coworker asked everyone to check their pockets to see if they were missing anything. He
KAPA‘A — Money lost and returned went to benefit the homeless of Kaua‘i last week.
John Adkins was sitting at work on Friday when a coworker asked everyone to check their pockets to see if they were missing anything. He checked his pocket and realized he was missing a $100 bill.
The coworker had found the money outside on the street.
“I have no idea how it got out of my pocket,” Adkins said. “The fact that it was found and returned was a miracle in itself.”
Later that evening a member of his Clean and Sober group mentioned that he wanted to spend the next day feeding the homeless. Adkins said he was inspired to take his “gift” money that was returned and use it to purchase food for the project.
The next morning the two went to Kapa‘a Beach Park with lunch packs of sandwiches, chips and bottled water.
“They were so appreciative and it was such a success, we decided to go to McDonald’s in Lihu‘e and buy 30 McDoubles,” he said. “Then we went to Hanama‘ulu beach and fed all the homeless.”
Some of the homeless at Hanama‘ulu Beach Park are also addicts, said Adkins. Bringing them lunch was a powerful moment to do outreach in a meaningful and disarming way.
As recovering addicts themselves, Adkins said he and the members of the group could offer a living testimony to the addicts.
“We all used to be in their shoes,” Adkins said. “We gave them all big hugs and told them we loved them and that there is hope. It felt incredible.”
There is another happy ending to this story: Adkins said that one of the homeless addicts showed up at their AA meeting later that evening.
• Tom LaVenture can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
