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Harry Robertson Jr. thinks he has a book inside him, one that chronicles the ups and downs of his life.
“I have a title,” he told me. “‘It’s Not How You Start, It’s How You Finish.’”
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Spoiler alert, here’s how Robertson finished: working as a certified peer specialist to help others overcome drug addiction, spending time with his service dog, Box, and living in his own apartment in Northeast Washington’s Eckington neighborhood. He secured housing a year ago with the help of Miriam’s Kitchen, a partner in The Washington Post Helping Hand.
“I slept at bus stops,” Robertson said, describing the decade he spent without a home. “I slept in abandoned buildings. I slept and ate out of garbage cans. I’m familiar with the elements, of being somewhere where you can’t get a jacket and it’s snowing and it’s cold outside. I’ve done all that. That’s why I know where I’ve been and I know where I don’t want to go back to.”
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Robertson, 57, grew up in Anacostia. He was 20 when he first became swamped by the drugs then coursing through the city. He was able to hold down a good job for years — as a mechanic for Amtrak — but the drugs took over. He estimates he went through rehab more than two dozen times.
“I always knew that I was capable of being a productive citizen,” Robertson said. “I just didn’t want to give up some of my old ways. I wanted to do half. I didn’t want to do all the work.”
In 2017, something clicked in Robertson’s head.
“I realized that I was not getting any younger,” he said. “I’ve got two grandkids. I have a son and a daughter. I just wanted better for myself. And no matter what I had to do this go-around, I wasn’t going to make the same choices again.”
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Robertson entered a residential rehabilitation program run by RAP Inc. (That stands for Regional Addiction Prevention.) When he completed the program, he slept at the 801 East Men’s Shelter in Ward 8.
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Then he entered the city’s Pandemic Emergency Program for Medically Vulnerable Individuals (PEP-V), moving into a motel off New York Avenue NE. He was matched with Miriam’s Kitchen case manager Shannan Vinson to find permanent supportive housing.
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“Shannan has been a god-sent person,” Robertson said.
When it came to housing, Robertson had two desires. One was that it be near a dog park so Robertson can spend time with Box, his 4-year-old American Staffordshire terrier. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know where I would be, to be honest with you,” said Robertson.
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Robertson’s other housing request was that it be near his job. He works at RAP Inc. as a certified peer specialist, where he oversees the day-to-day movement of clients, making sure they get to their group meetings and their treatment programs.
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He knows what they’re going through. He’s gone through it himself.
“I share my experience and my story,” Robertson said. “When I help them, it helps me. This is the job that I would do for free. I finally found my niche, my passion. I’m not looking for a pat on the back. I’m not looking for any rewards. The reward is I’m still alive at 57 and I shouldn’t be.”
Helping Hand
You can support Miriam’s Kitchen, a partner in The Washington Post Helping Hand, our annual fundraising campaign for worthy local nonprofits.
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To give online, visit posthelpinghand.com and click where it says “Donate.” To give by check, write to Miriam’s Kitchen, Attn: Development, 2401 Virginia Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20037.
A generous gift
This is the season for giving, and I’m delighted to announce that the Robert I. Schattner Foundation has once again fully embraced that spirit of generosity. As it has done in the past, the Schattner Foundation has pledged a $150,000 grant to our beneficiary charities: $50,000 each to Miriam’s Kitchen, Friendship Place and Bread for the City.
I love the story of this local foundation created by Robert I. Schattner. He was a dentist who invented Chloraseptic, the sore-throat medication, and Sporicidin, the disinfectant. Schattner died in 2017 at age 91. His namesake foundation supports social service organizations such as our Helping Hand partners.
I hope its generous gift will inspire others to give to The Washington Post Helping Hand.
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John Kelly’s Washington
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