BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A local poet who was once homeless is getting ready to give away winter gear to those in need at the Harbor House Resource Center.
30-year-old Marquell Mack will be donating winter clothing and other necessities to many.
“I've been through a lot from 13 years old to about 23, 24, so I was on and off,” he says. “I stayed in different shelters, and I was just in a cycle that I couldn't get out of for a long time.”
Mack shared more with 7 News reporter Yoselin Person his story about the time when he didn’t have a place to call home.
“I was adopted and I acted out a lot, so I ended up in the streets, and we came homeless I was sleeping in ECMC at night. I was doing whatever I could to survive,” he expresses. "I ended up at the house, and from the Harbor House, I went into youth shelter around for a long time, but the Harbor House gave me the hope I needed to change.”
Mack works in construction and has his own graphic arts and advertising business.
Now he’s giving back to the place that was once his comfort – the Harbor House.
The managing director of the restoration society, David Merlo, is excited for Marquell to donate all of winter clothing while giving free haircuts.
“It’s rare for people coming back 20 years later to tell us how our services helped them, so it was very encouraging to me, so we chatted,” Merlo says. “Marquell had it was on his heart really to do something to get back to the community that we serve, and you know his proposal was to come prepared with some food and a message and whatever else he could bring with him.”
The Harbor House is open 365 days a year from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Meanwhile, the organization is facing some challenges of its own – funding.
A lot of money is managed through Erie County.
“We’ve reached out to the county, and we have expressed our needs and growing needs for more support for the services that we're trying to provide,” he says. “The funding is very limited, and so it's sometimes it's discouraging, but we're hopeful.”
Merlo says a lot of the people he sees coming to the center have mental health struggles.
“It also includes elderly people with canes and walkers with co-occurring health conditions. It is heartbreaking,” he says.
But Mack’s mission once a month is to make a positive change to those in need.
“I just want people to know that it's not only for mental health different things like that you can just be a victim circumstance like I was a victim of circumstance having a rough childhood,” he says. “And you could get out of the cycle. You can do better, and you could get back on.”
The giveaway is happening Friday, January 5th, 10 pm at the Harbor House Resource Center.
Click here to donate to the Harbor House Resource Center.
