Everybody has a story and it's not always what you think it is.

Just normal, everyday folk who had an issue with, say, a job loss or an accident or, you know, they retired and they realize they don't have enough.

To live on.

I was a truck driver until I got hurt in a truck, actually, up in Albany, New York.

Broke my back and all my ribs.

My mom had to help take care of me because I was still dealing with workman's comp and all that stuff.

I'd be still on the roads coast to coast, but that was my biggest downfall, was I couldn't pass my physical keel.

There's not enough shelter in any city.

You know, homelessness is a big problem right now.

My mom passed away December 22 and nine.

She was living with told me I had to a Labor Day to get out because it was his house.

So 3 to 4 months, both sleeping in the car.

The Keystone mission has been in existence for almost 20 years.

We started in Lackawanna County out of the back of a truck.

We opened the Innovation Center on October the 30th, 2023.

We have an innovation center in Lackawanna County also.

This is the first time in Luzerne County's history that they've had a place that the homeless can go during the day.

I was staying at the truck stop up there.

It was cheaper to sleep in a car and pay for a hotel room.

And how I ended up down here was when it got cold and wintertime and up calling 911 and it gave me Keystone, this cold blue logo when it was cold.

I walked down from by the airport down to here.

We want everybody to be treated with respect.

We don't turn anyone away, regardless of religion or gender or nationality.

Everyone is welcome here.

It's seeing a person and not homeless or not seeing poverty or not seeing mental illness or not seeing a drug addict.

There's a person behind all those things.

Still adjusting to it.

So he's been by myself, doing stuff myself.

If it wasn't for Melanie and Cathy, help me out here.

After I became homeless, I probably wouldn't be here today.

We refer to the people who come into this mission and all of our mission as a guest.

And so some of the agencies are a little bit thrown off by that because they call them clients, but they're not our clients.

They're our guest here.

The guests come in in the morning around 9:00.

Usually you'll hear my name, often times no need to talk to you for a second.

And it's usually anything from getting housing applications in, checking on status of housing applications.

We want to make sure that everybody has ID so we can start helping them receive the benefits that they need.

When my ID that I did have ran out, no gave me paperwork to go down and get my ID renewed.

So we want to make sure that we're hitting the basics before we take a look and try to get them into housing.

Because right now there is a waitlist on some of the housing units that are in the city.

We have a great partner with Sherman Hill's Uncle St.

They have been wonderful working with us, but it's really it's tough.

We look into different landlords that rent rooms.

There's some hotels that will offer monthly rates for some of our guests, but they fill up quickly.

You know, you cannot pay 1500 dollars a month rent for a single bedroom apartment.

And when you're getting $890 a month, Social Security.

We did just receive ARPA funding.

That is what helped us by the American Rescue Plan Act, helped us open this building.

So I think we do have a lot of like the counties on our side that are interested in helping us find funding too, which is really awesome.

We are almost 100% donor funded.

So it can be disheartening or it could also be like the best thing ever when you get that check in the mail and someone's like, Yeah, I believe in what you're doing.

You know, I want to partner with you through this.

It is, you know, Grandma sending in the $2 a month.

It's people are monthly donors.

So like what we do and supply for that.

You just see a lot of hearts being restored.

And it makes me get a new perspective on life.

Some of the homeless might be people, you know.

And you know, guys that I met in January that wouldn't say two words to me.

Now come in and tell me they love me and they give me a hug.

At the end of the day, and they have that, Hey, can I get a dress shirt?

I'm going to go and apply for that job like I they're more confident to do so because we see them and we see who they really are behind that mask that society got.

So I got approved for housing authority, too, Melanie.

It's a lot of work they do and a lot of people don't see that.

Just take time to hear the stories and you'll have a better understanding of what we do here.

Don't we?

I don't mean to sound rude, but lazy.

Get up off your button and do so.