Srq Daily May 1, 2024

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As a child, Megan Howell was homeless.

As an adult, she's now the executive director of Second Heart Homes, a nonprofit in Sarasota, Fla., that provides housing and services to homeless adults with mental health issues.

As a waitress, Howell became friends with a homeless man who suffered from schizophrenia.

"He was making these really interesting drawings so I sat down on the sidewalk with him to learn more about what he was doing and we became friends over the course of eight years," she tells the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

"I made sure I went into work early to be able to talk to him," she says.

"He really needed someone who wasn't going to dismiss his version of reality and somebody who was a safe harbor and quite honestly, I needed him toohe was the most interesting person I could ever talk to."

After he was picked up for a medical emergency that almost took his life, Howell found him in a hospital.

He told her he was ready to get off the streets so she unintentionally became his advocate.

Four years later, Second Heart Homes has 10 homes and 62 beds, with 10 full-time employees and 35 volunteers.

"We don't live on the properties, but we visit daily and we maintain them to

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