
DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100670

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   91 lines

REMEMBERING THE HOMELESS DON STEPHENSON ESCAPED POVERTY, BUT HIS GENEROSITY TO STREET PEOPLE PROVES HE HASN'T FORGOTTEN.

Don Stephenson creased a five-spot lengthwise, slotted it between two fingers and stretched it out toward James Nelson.

Nelson, seated on a slab of concrete at the northeast corner of Brambleton Avenue and Granby Street one recent evening, wasted no time snatching the bill and stuffing it into the pocket of his plaid, wool jacket.

``Thank you,'' said the gray-bearded 49-year-old, gratitude shining in his face, his smile.

For the past two years, Stephenson, a 36-year-old Ghent boiler mechanic, has set aside $100 from his pay check every other Friday.

Then each night, after a 10-hour day at the Southeastern Public Service Authority, he has headed for the streets of Norfolk, passing out $5 and $10 bills to the city's hungry homeless or taking them to restaurants where he springs for dinner. All told, Stephenson, a big guy in body as well as heart, estimates he has given away about $5,000 to Norfolk's street people.

Stephenson is throwing a mass meal for area homeless next Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Berkley Community Center using donated food and transportation to and from the site. He expects at least 250 of Norfolk's homeless population to show up but hopes advocates in surrounding cities will bus the homeless to Berkley.

Stephenson, who is single and earns about $40,000 a year, knows what it's like to be homeless.

After living with his grandmother in Berkley all his life, he suddenly found himself out on the street a few years back when the cousin who inherited the property ordered him out.

For three months, Stephenson slept in his car and stayed with friends, taking showers at a local gymnasium. He recovered by using a ``nest egg'' of inheritance money. But he'll never forget what it was like to be without a place to call home.

``I hope to never be there again, but I can't forget where I came from,'' he says. ``I'm trying to feed everybody I can.''

Stephenson says inspiration for outreach also came from watching the televised work of Richard Hassell of Christian Action, a local advocacy group.

Stephenson says he knows it's possible that some of those to whom he hands cash don't use it for necessities, but he believes it is the warm act of caring that matters in a world that can seem cold to the homeless.

Nelson, the homeless man helped by Stephenson, already had gotten a bite to eat that day. He'd begged some money and managed to buy some wings at a nearby restaurant. He said he planned to sack out behind an abandoned building that night. He became homeless two years ago after a bout with heroin addiction.

Stephenson also stopped at a St. Paul's Boulevard restaurant to chat with 50-year-old Odell Wilson, homeless for 10 years. Wilson had eaten some soup at Union Mission but didn't know where he'd sleep that night.

Next Saturday's ``Community Vision: A Day of Giving - A Meal with a Message'' starts at 1 p.m. and concludes at 7 p.m.

Food - including collard greens, mashed potatoes, yams, roast beef, baked and fried chicken, pies and custards - will be donated by Billie's Country Cooking and C.T. Davis Inc., both of Chesapeake; Morrison's Cafeteria and Gene Walters' Marketplace, both of Norfolk; and Pat Robertson.

Volunteers will help Stephenson prepare and serve the food, and the Salvation Army and New Hope Baptist Church in Berkley will provide transportation from two locations in downtown Norfolk.

Stephenson says the event is not just for Norfolk's homeless but for those throughout South Hampton Roads. If the guest list lengthens beyond the 250 he's expecting, Stephenson would need more food and volunteers to serve it. Donations of money are also welcome.

``It's going to be their holiday,'' says Stephenson, who hopes to make the third Saturday of October an annual event for the region's homeless. MEMO: For more information, call Stephenson at 640-0883 or page him at

307-9134. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Formerly homeless, Don Stephenson helps the homeless by handing out

small cash donations. He plans a big dinner for them on Oct. 18.

Color Photo

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Odell Wilson, right, is one of the many homeless people Don

Stephenson, left, helps out with small cash donations.

Graphic

Want to go?

What: Free meal for the region's homeless

Where: Berkley Community Center, 89 W. Liberty Street, Norfolk

When: Oct. 18, 1-7 p.m.