Tony Comtois is a former homeless drug addict – and he’s the most inspiring man I’ve ever met
The day I spent with him showed me the reality of homelessness in Illinois
I’ve seen students on campus react multiple ways to homeless people. I’ve seen some who give them some spare change, or stop and talk to them. However, I also see people who look the other way and keep walking. I’m guilty of doing both of these.
That is to say, I did, before I had the opportunity to spend some time with a man who was previously homeless who is also celebrating his 10th year of sobriety. After that day, my whole perception of the term “homeless” changed.
Tony Comtois started the journey to turn his life around on July 6th of 2006. Tony knows the feeling of living on the streets and that’s what drove him to give back through CU- At Home. That’s also why the people at CU- At Home respect him so much, because not only can they relate to him, but because his story gives them hope. CU- At Home is a program in Champaign-Urbana that aims to get the local homeless back on their feet. Tony does whatever he can to give back to the homeless community in Champaign-Urbana. He spends his days driving around local homeless people to important meetings or appointments they need to go to. Tony will drive someone anywhere from a job interview to a detox appointment.
Tony Comtois walks away from a homeless man’s space that was made on top of a bridge
When I was with Tony we picked up a man from one of the CU-At Home centers to help him look for the location of an interview he had coming up. We dropped him off after and Tony told him he’d be there tomorrow to pick him up. As the man closed the door, Tony asked, “You got a buck for the bus?” The man had a bus pass, but Tony wouldn’t have hesitated to lend him a dollar if he needed it.
“That’s what I do for a living. I hang out with these guys.” I asked Tony where he takes them and he told me, “Wherever they want to go, if they want to do something productive, it’s pretty much wherever the hell they want to go.”
Tony drives a man to go look for where his interview is going to be the next day
“If they start to show growth and stuff, like if he gets a job and needs steal-toe boots, I’ll go buy him some steel-toe boots. He needs a bike? I’ll get him a bike.” Tony says as long as they’re showing they want to get back on their feet, he’ll do whatever he can to help.
“I want to show you this place up here”, Tony told me as he pulled into a parking lot next to a bridge that crosses over Springfield Ave. “This is one of the places that I show people, it just looks like a bridge”, but when I got up there it was much more than just a bridge, it was somebody’s home. “One of the guys that’s inside that drop in center right now lives up here”
Then I saw it. In the pile of clothes and belongings on top of the mattress was an Orange University of Illinois t-shirt. A shirt I’ve seen so many students wearing around campus, a shirt they probably don’t even think about as they throw it on to wear for the day. However, to whoever called this place home, I’m sure that shirt meant another layer of warmth for a winter night.
I think students can be very blind to the homelessness in Champaign-Urbana. Some students blind themselves from it on purpose, and some just really don’t care about it at all. Either way, I think most students stereotype homeless people.
There is a stereotype of homeless people, and I can’t deny that I’ve fallen victim to believing it. After this time I spent with Tony that stereotype shattered. It doesn’t take a home to make a person a person. Homeless or not, they’re people just like we are.
The fact that we walk by these people all the time and already have our opinion made up about them before even talking to them is disrespectful. There are homeless people out there who are trying their hardest to get back on their feet. I saw it with my own eyes. Just because somebody doesn’t have a home, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be treated like any other human being.