GREENACRES, Fla. — Maybe you have a bag, maybe a bike. An untamed beard, too. Maybe a drug problem and criminal past. In John Prince Park near Lake Worth Beach, they sit, dreaming of better days.
“I can understand where these homeless people come from. Where they feel like at times people forget about them. And what I mean by the people, the public,” said Greenacres man Francky Pierre-Paul.
Pierre-Paul has been there.
He was 16, kicked out of his house, living in on the streets of Lake Worth and addicted.
“I grew up where everyone knew Francky as being the class clown or funny kid. But that was my mask that I hid behind where I felt like if no one knew what I was going through, no one would judge me,” he said.
“My choice was pills.”
And then it was booze.
But by 19 he was sober.
“It all started with a song, “Amazing” by Hezekiah Walker,” he said.
In the 10 years that have passed, he has a home, wife, kids, a job and purpose.
“Sunday, it’s me showing the world that the sky is the limit and you’re able, able to get out of the situation you are in,” he said.
Sunday is that better day.
At John Prince Park, haircuts, food, and clothes for people who need them for free.
“I can understand the feeling of being rejected or neglected. For me to give back in the sense where I’m not asking for anything monetarily. Just asking for people to come together,” he said.
The free event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, open to everyone to donate, help out or get what you need.
Long term, he hopes to become mayor of Greenacres and open a homeless center.