Timothy Huffman was inspired to work with the homeless after a chance meeting with a homeless woman on his way to the airport.
“I was in a hurry and I was about to not stop,” Huffman said.
Something compelled Huffman to ask what she needed.
“She took my hand and said, ‘No one has ever asked me that before,’” he said. “That moment changed my life.”
The meeting led the communication graduate student to join Stand Up for Kids, a program to help homeless young adults, and led him to receive the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Servant-Leadership Award at the end of November.
The $1,000 scholarship is awarded to undergraduate and graduate students who serve the community first and influence others to serve their communities as well.
Huffman, the Stand Up for Kids co-director, has been working for the program for the past two years.
Communication graduate student Shawna Malvini Redden nominated Huffman for the award.
“There is no other person that deserves it more,” she said.
Redden said she has known Huffman for three years and has witnessed the “blood and sweat” he puts into volunteering.
“He dedicates his life to making the world a better place … seeking to improve the lives of homeless people across the country,” Redden said in the nomination letter.
Before Huffman began his work with young homeless men and women, he said he wanted to experience homelessness for himself. Huffman chose to live on the edge of Eaton Canyon in Pasadena, Calif.
Huffman said he struggled at first because police and security were always “kicking me out.”
“I learned that someone always finds a way to remind you this place isn’t yours,” he said.
Huffman said the experience helped him understand what it is like to be homeless, but it isn’t the same experience that the homeless live through every day.
Stand Up for Kids co-director John Geyerman called Huffman a great, spirited guy.
“I couldn’t do it alone,” Geyerman said.
Stand Up for Kids helps homeless youth in two ways: outreach and “in-reach.”
On Thursday nights, volunteers, interns and even the homeless youth provide “outreach” by driving around Phoenix in the “Purple Van” to give food, water and hygiene products to homeless youth.
“In-reach” takes place on Saturday afternoons at the “Our House” in central Phoenix. The house is open to homeless youth to eat, take a shower or just hangout.
Dustin “DK” Kalkbrenner, 22, a homeless youth, said Huffman provides a comfort to the environment.
“This is my second family,” Kalkbrenner said.
Susan Bowers, 25, was homeless for four years and visits “Our House” often.
Bowers said she felt a sense of support at “Our House” because they encourage her to share her story.
“Like Tim says, ‘Wherever the rain touches is part of the community,’” Geyerman said.
Reach the reporter at thaniab@asu.edu
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