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For a decade, Greg Dunston and Marie Mckinzie had been among the many 8,000 folks experiencing homelessness on the streets of San Francisco.
At the least they had been, till millionaire Terry McGrath invited them to stick with him in his house.
San Francisco has an notorious difficulty with homelessness. Whereas being the richest metropolis in America with a largely liberal inhabitants, many avert their eyes and refuse to assist measures to treatment the problems inflicting it.
Down on Their Luck
However as a substitute of ready on others to do one thing, Terry McGrath did his half to assist.
He learn an article within the San Francisco Chronicle about Greg Dunston and Marie Mckinzie, a beautiful couple who defied the stereotypes of the kind of who reside on the road.
They weren’t alcoholics or drug addicts and so they didn’t have psychological well being points. They did have disabilities — Dunston is blind in a single eye and Mckinzie has a illness that makes it a battle to stroll — however primarily they had been down on their luck.
“The factor that struck me and acquired me immediately was the love between Greg and Marie and the way it was capable of survive in in all probability one of many harshest environments on earth,” McGrath instructed ABC Information. “I might really feel it.”
So, McGrath did one thing unbelievable — he invited them to stick with him in his $4 million house.
“There was no choice, there was no thought, there was no judgment. I used to be identical to ‘that is achieved,’” mentioned McGrath, who was divorced and an empty nester so he had loads of additional room.
“I didn’t vet them. These are human beings and so they’re not serial killers. They wish to get in out of the climate. They need a roof over their head. They wish to be heat.”
Dunston and Mckinzie had been thrilled about McGrath’s hospitality.
“We wished to do this,” Dunston mentioned about transferring into McGrath’s house. “There are lots of people out on the streets however they haven’t any selection.”
“I don’t wish to reside on the streets. Lots of people do, however I wish to get in. I like to prepare dinner loads so I wished a kitchen, mattress and bathe.”
Marie Mckinzie
Discriminatory Neighborhood
When the couple moved in, Taylor warned the native police drive in his upper-class neighborhood that they had been there together with his permission. It was an excellent factor he did, as a result of shortly after their arrival a neighbor known as 911 on the couple merely for present.
“I simply pulled into the driveway and there’s some unusual people hanging round the home,” the neighbor mentioned.
One other known as police to say, “I simply wished to inform you that this girl is sitting at Lexford and Hampton … She’s smoking a cigarette, may very well be medication.”
When McGrath heard one of many neighbor’s complaints, he couldn’t imagine his ears. “I spotted when she talked about the phrase ‘scenario’ that she was referencing Marie and Greg. And I mentioned, ‘What scenario? Are they vandalizing automobiles? Are they burglarizing properties?’”
He continued, “I simply mentioned, ‘This is without doubt one of the most offensive conversations I’ve ever had.’”
Everybody Deserves to Have a Roof Over Their Heads
In keeping with an area journalist, Piedmont’s residents are 74 p.c white, 18 p.c Asian and fewer than 2 p.c Black.
On the time the article was launched in early 2020, the previously homeless couple had been dwelling with McGrath for a yr, and he had no plans to kick them out.
“They’re like household. There’s no manner I’m going to allow them to return to the road,” he mentioned. “Most individuals who know me nicely realize it’s simple to begin and it’s arduous to complete. And I’m by no means not going to complete.”
San Francisco’s homeless scenario is actually a nationwide shame, and people who say nothing could be achieved merely must see this story for proof that particular person acts of kindness are doable and can assist.
Regardless of who they’re or what choices they’ve made of their life, everybody deserves a roof over their head if they need it.
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