Last week was the Gloucester United Emergency Shelter Team’s first week of sheltering those in need during the 2018-2019 winter season and according to the group’s executive director John Seltzer, a lot more than just sheltering occurred. The week proved to be one of miracles and family reunions, he said.
When the shelter opened at 7 a.m. on Dec. 3, staff and volunteers had no idea they would become part of a family reunion and help solve a missing person case that had been two years in the making.
On that morning, Seltzer said a woman who wound up being a missing person checked into the day shelter. “She had already been in our care for a month until that point, but because of the limited hours and the fact that we had several of our clients staying at the hotel, it never crossed my mind to check Facebook,” he said.
However, one evening, Seltzer was scrolling through Facebook and came across a post from the Gloucester Men’s Ministry page that the woman had been reported missing from her home since July 2017.
“On Monday morning, shortly after 9 o’clock, I was able to find another post that had a contact phone number linked to (that) post,” Seltzer said. “That phone number was to her brother.”
Seltzer called the brother and explained who he was and that a woman had checked into the shelter under the name posted. “He asked if he could speak to her, and when they handed the phone back to me, he said, ‘That’s my sister. We all had just started to think she was dead.’ I told him, ‘Well, she is very much alive.’”
Around 11:45 that same morning, the woman’s brother and sister showed up at the shelter. “While there were still a lot of questions without answers, one thing was for sure … This family had been reunited just in time for Christmas.”
The positive news didn’t stop there, Seltzer said. A family of nine checked into the shelter the first morning “and immediately became a great part of the GUEST family.” With the help of other community organizations, the children of this family will have a brighter Christmas than what they could ever imagine.
The father had just finished serving time in jail for drug possession and distribution, and knew he had a lot of making up to do with his wife and children, Seltzer said. “However, the man we came to know was a man who was on fire for God; a man who admits to his mistakes, and a man who was eager to erase the hate, the divide and the misconceptions that a man can’t change.”
Seltzer said that the man, who once served in the U.S. Marines, has been through a good deal of trauma in his life. As a child, he had watched his mother murder his father, and he held his father until the moment he passed away. “All (he) came to know was the streets and the hustle that comes with it,” Seltzer added.
Released from prison shortly before Thanksgiving, he didn’t return to a home or a family ready to see and embrace him, but to homelessness and the need to quickly find safety and security for his family.
Seltzer said the family humbly came to the GUEST shelter seeking assistance. “And just as GUEST does with any child, we made sure our shelters became a home for those children to ensure that the traumatic impact on those children was minimal at best,” he said.
According to Seltzer, Santa Claus has been notified that the children are at the GUEST shelter and he expects to visit them on Christmas Eve. “When these children begin their Christmas break, they will be coming home to a house fit for them,” Seltzer said. “While this house is only temporary for so many people, during the winter months for some, it is the only home they know, and this will be the case for (this) family.”
Additionally, last Thursday representatives of the Ma-
rines’ Toys for Tots program presented the family’s children with toys and presents to help make their Christmas a little brighter.