Second Heart Homes

November 25, 2024

To grow a life of purpose: Season of Sharing and nonprofit help local man rebuild his life, Herald-Tribune

A few years ago, Charles Robinson stared at the gray walls of his prison cell and was convinced of one thing.

He would not be back in here again.

By then in his early 60s, Charles had spent the better part of four decades wrestling addictions, in and out of places like this.

“I know if I go out on the streets again, there’s no coming back,” he thought. “I’m going to die out there.”

If he had abided by his grandmother’s advice years ago, he could have made something of his life, he told himself. But it wasn’t too late, he believed. He’d need to find a job and a place to live.

A few years later – with the help of his grandmother’s wisdom and a Sarasota nonprofit, plus a leg up from Season of Sharing – Charles has been able to break the cycle and find some peace with himself.

“I went back out like a fool”

With both of his parents battling alcoholism and drug addiction, Charles was raised from the age of two by his grandmother.

A caring but strict woman, she made sure Charles was always dressed nice and in attendance for Sunday service at Truvine Missionary Baptist church.

She monitored his school progress and stayed atop his homework while juggling babysitting jobs.

“She loved the kids,” he recalled.  

Struggling with an untreated learning disability and mental health issues, Charles gave up high school just a few credits short of graduation, to his grandmother’s dismay.

In his early twenties, he fell into the lifestyle of his parents, moving out of his grandmother’s house, quitting church and diving straight into alcohol and drugs.

After a drunken accident where he lost the use of his arm, his grandmother stayed by his side for a month and helped nurse him back to health.

“If you don’t stop, you’re going to get killed,” she warned.  

“I didn’t listen,” he said. “I went back out like a fool.”

“They accepted me with nothing”

The next three decades passed in a blur of drug addiction and prison.

The last time he landed in prison – about six years ago – he’d hit rock bottom. Alone in his cell, he imagined being in heaven with his grandmother, talking with her as well as his father, who passed away shortly before his grandmother did ten years before.

“I made up my mind to get off drugs and alcohol,” he said. “I was tired of living my life not accomplishing anything.”

Upon his release, Project 180 helped him start over by first finding him a spot at Second Heart Homes – a local nonprofit with 11 homes in Sarasota and Manatee counties for adult individuals experiencing homelessness and mental illness.

“I didn’t have a place to go, I didn’t have anything,” he said. “They accepted me with nothing.”

Enveloped in Second Heart’s one-on-one system of support, Charles started therapy, medications, and a job.

Project 180 covered his program fees at Second Heart for a spell amid his transition, but during a gap in his Social Security disability benefits, he fell behind.

Charles couldn’t lose this opportunity. At Second Heart, he felt closer than ever to building a new life – one that his grandmother always believed was possible for him.

Through a case manager, Charles applied to Season of Sharing, a program administered by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County that assists individuals and families in an emergency with rent, mortgage, transportation, utility and childcare expenses in Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto and Charlotte counties.

Season of Sharing covered about $1,000 to fill the gap until his disability benefits and paychecks kicked in.  

“God blessed me with Season of Sharing,” he said. “They were a big help to me to establish my living situation and to get back on my feet. Without housing, you can’t focus on anything else.”

Since then, Charles has reconnected with his siblings and extended family and started going to church again. He has thrown himself into his job in landscaping and maintenance for One Stop Housing. He has side clients, too, including a local judge.  

He volunteers at other Second Heart sites and has developed close friendships with his housemates as well as Second Heart managers, whom he is known to tease with his quick wit.

“He’s a joy to be around,” said executive director and founder Megan Howell. “It’s the heart and soul of what we do. Whenever we see people trying hard and succeeding and overcoming obstacles – it’s not a smooth journey for anybody, but he perseveres.”

With the guidance of Second Heart’s programs coupled with the assist from Season of Sharing – a “hand up, not a handout,” Howell added, “he was part of his own solution.”

“He’s a gift to this world,” she said. “We love him. Anybody around him feels his spirit.”

For Charles, one of his greatest sources of happiness now is his work, for which he just won a top employee award. He relishes the pleased and shocked expressions on clients’ faces after he sculpts bushes, trims trees, plants flowers and mows the lawn – all with the use of only one arm.

“I like to see them smile and say how good the yard looks,” he said with a satisfied grin.

Landscaping helps clear his head. That’s the best part of all. Along with a growing savings in his new bank account, he has his mind back.  

And for the first time in a long while, Charles, now 65, feels proud of himself. He’s learned to forgive himself for breaking his grandmother’s heart.

Because he thinks she’s watching him. And that she’s proud of him, too.

How to help 

You can donate to Season of Sharing by going to cfsarasota.org or calling 941-556-2399. You can also mail a check to Season of Sharing, Community Foundation of Sarasota County, 2635 Fruitville Road, Sarasota, FL 34237.

This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com.