WLS Interview with Steve Cochran
Former Executive director at Hesed House Ryan Dowd joins the Steve Cochran Show to talk about how people become homeless, the 4 different types of homelessness he sees come through the Hesed House, and he explains why outlawing homelessness is inefficient. Visit WLS Website
How to Help at the Holidays
Hi! We recently put together a “naughty” and “nice” list for how you can best help during the holidays. watch video + download guide Please share the video on your social media to let others know how they can help! Have a great week! Ryan
I try not to be grateful
NOTE This newsletter has some religious references in it. If religion isn’t your thing, please skip this week and tune back in next week! Oh, it is also about Thanksgiving in the United States. If you aren’t in the U.S. you also are free to skip it if you so choose… × Dismiss alert I […]
Love the light more than you hate the darkness.
I will tell you the story of the exact moment I chose to believe in humanity. I tell you my story not because it is special. It isn’t. I tell you my story specifically because it is NOT special. It was January 1999. 2am to be precise. I was 21 years old. I had just […]
Pole dancing in Toledo
I did a series of trainings for the Toledo Public Library before the world ended. (You all were awesome, by the way!) A woman in her 20s shared a story of an incident from earlier the same week. A library patron (twice her age) asked, “Didn’t I see you dancing on a pole last night?” […]
Another problem with sexual harassment.
It was a calm Friday night in the homeless shelter. The church volunteers were serving spaghetti. One of the new residents walked up to me smiling broadly. He was in his early 20’s, thin, nicely dressed, Asian and wearing thick coke-bottle glasses. The conversation went something like this: Ryan: Good evening! How my I […]
Susan offered to have “hanky panky” with me for free.
In case it wasn’t clear: Susan offered to have sex with me for free. (I had to say “hanky panky” or every spam filter would have blocked this email.) That may not seem significant, but Susan made her money through prostitution. The conversation went something like this: Susan: Hey, if you ever want to have […]
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s genetic love-child
The place: A Nashville Honkey-tonk bar The time: Sometime after 11:00pm. The specifics are not relevant (or any of your business). I was making my way to the bathroom. I had to weave between copious cowboy hats, a multitude of mullets and bountiful bachelorette parties. When I got to the bathroom, the smell hit me […]
I practiced saying “my apartment.”
The following is the final installment of an essay written by Jaime L. Benshoff about her experiences being homeless. If you want to read the earlier parts, you can find them here: Have a great week! Ryan Finding Home Part 6 of 6By Jaime L. Benshoff When I was notified that I had won my […]
Are you homeless?
The following is the fifth installment of an essay written by Jaime L. Benshoff about her experiences being homeless. If you want to read the earlier parts, you can find them here: Have a great week! Ryan DISCLAIMER: This installment of Jaime’s story is especially honest. Don’t read it in front of your children. Finding […]
