March 1, 2022

Mr. Boyd's Journey

William Boyd’s story is all too familiar. A veteran who once served our country, he had found himself without money, without a place to stay and few places left to go for help. His disability made it difficult for him to get around, which made getting the support he needed even more difficult. 

So, Mr. Boyd did the only thing he could: he rolled, slowly making his way to our Catholic Charities office in Oneonta by pushing himself along on the seat of his wheeled walker.


At Catholic Charities, our doors were open to him and our staff greeted him with respect, dignity and a warm welcome. Boyd met Theresa, a staff member of Catholic Charities, and they discussed his needs, his challenges, and developed a plan to get Mr. Boyd the support he needed. 

“Mr. Boyd came to us without a lot of resources,” explained Theresa. “Fortunately, we were able to work with him to get him to where he needed to be.”  

Our staff quickly got to work. Theresa got him some food (he hadn’t eaten), his medicine (he was out), and a place to stay for the night along with a way to get there. Over the next few days, Theresa and our team worked to see Boyd’s long-terms needs were addressed. 

“We got him out of the hotel and into permanent housing. We connected him with an adult protective worker with helped him to identify services and community resources that could help him, making referrals to partnering organizations
as needed.” 

 “Well, my hat goes off to Catholic Charities,” said Boyd’s new-found protective worker. ”Mr. Boyd is now safe, in his own room and will be assisted with his needs. Did anyone ever tell express?that your Agency is really wonderful and also very helpful?” 

Mr. Boyd is now housed, safe, feed and can easily access community services when needed.