Posted on 04/17/2015 3:16:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Tampa police officer, case worker help him
John Helinski was once homeless, sleeping on a cardboard box by a bus stop.
"I just managed on my own,” said John Helinski.
For three years in downtown Tampa, he said he was invisible.
"Sleeping underneath the benches there and no one would see me,” Helinski said.
Now Helinski's got a locker, a bed and a dedicated case worker at a new 24/7, one-stop-shop housing center for homeless in Hillsborough County off 50th Street.
But wait, his story gets way better than that — way, way better.
"He needed to have an identification, but we couldn't get an identification without a birth certificate,” said DACCO Case Manager Charles Inman. “There was no other option to succeed. You know, the thought of putting a 62-year-old man back on the street wasn't acceptable."
Inman wasn't going to give up and Tampa Police Officer Dan McDonald isn't the quitting kind either.
"I enjoy it because I like a challenge,” said Officer McDonald.
They got Helinski, who was born in Poland but is an American citizen, a driver's license, a Social Security card and his name back.
"We first had to figure out that we needed a consular record of foreign birth or something like that,” said Officer McDonald.
But wait, it gets even better.
At a Tampa bank branch, Helinski discovered an old, forgotten bank account.
"At that time, it was Landmark Bank. Then it became Bank of America,” he said.
The bank account has money in it. His Social Security benefits had been piling up for years, enough for Helinski to buy permanent housing.
"I guess I'm exhilarated, excited, you know,” he said.
"I think we were both stunned. We weren't quite sure what to say,” said Officer McDonald.
How much better could it get?
They couldn’t help him without an ID. But he could vote and that should make him feel better!
Jeb Bush wants the retirement age raised to 69.
Lucky for this guy that wasn’t the case or he would still be living in a cardboard box.
Had a fund guy call me about a month ago, my parents put a small amount aside for my son when he was born, since my dad died a couple of years ago mom made no more deposits, the guy was calling to say he needed a note from me to keep the account and not turn it over to the state due to lack of activity. I told the guy, but I paid taxes on it every year, he said the govt does not consider that to be an activity.
Hmm, I just looked it up, and it looks like the limit is based on your other income plus half your social security income. For a single person, head of household (or head of houselesshold for a homeless person?), it would be $25,000 this year, so unless he made $50,000 in benefits or had other income, it’s probably tax free.
I’m pretty sure the social. Sec comes off the top before your taxes are calculated.
Great memory forgetting about tens of thousands of dollars put away.
He could have been getting SS disability payments for quite some time and that might have been a really large long time number. And that might explain why he didn’t have a job. Something as simple as a bad foot might have produced both. I guess we’ll hear if he’s mentally OK enough to keep it going
I’d thought of SSI, but I think the person has to be recertified every 3 (+/-) years to continue to receive the benefit. So at most he probably had 3 years worth of checks, and that would coincide with the 3 years they write that he was homeless. Someone probably applied for or helped him get the application done, he went off to his park bench, and maybe never even knew he’d been found eligible.
I think benefits max out at ?36000
Something's not right with this story. It must be SS disability payments from when he was younger than 62.
Maybe some sort of disability - perhaps of the mental flavor?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.