When a 63-year-old deaf woman was kicked out of her home in the middle of winter, her future looked uncertain.
She had two service dogs, no family to fall back on, and nowhere to turn.
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Image courtesy of the individual who shared this story |
But instead of spiraling into isolation or despair, she found safety from an unlikely source: a group of unhoused men and women she once helped.
“I was doing what I normally do of helping others,” she told Nostalgic Grandma. “When people are homeless, just a small dedication of love spreads a lot… I fed, clothed an area near where I used to live.”
Before she found herself homeless, she had spent her time offering quiet, consistent kindness to people living on the streets. Her acts were not transactional. She expected no return. But life did come full circle—and in the most unexpected way.
“I was with a so-called friend who kicked me to the curb,” she shared. “Being deaf, 63, with two service dogs in winter, with nowhere to go…”
This is not an uncommon scenario.
According to chp.org.au, women aged 55 and over are one of the fastest-growing groups experiencing homelessness, involving factors like retirement savings, gender pay, and caring for family members. These numbers are estimated to be triple by 2030.
What happened next goes against what most people think about the homeless.
“This group of homeless guys and girls… protected me, fed me, kept us sheltered,” she wrote.
She doesn’t romanticize homelessness. She acknowledges that some of the people in the group struggled with addiction. “Yes, some do drugs,” she said, “but they have hearts. And some, like me, are just surviving due to cruelty of others.”
Her message is simple: judge less, love more.
The people we’re told to avoid—those seen as threatening, lazy, or morally weak—were the very people who showed up when she needed shelter, food, and protection.
They didn’t care that she was older or deaf. They didn’t expect anything in return.
They helped because someone needed help.
This woman’s story challenges the core assumptions many people hold about the unhoused. They are not all addicts. They are not all criminals.
Many are people who, like her, were failed by others and pushed to the margins.
Her words hit like a quiet revolution: “When love is shown in ways others don’t see why you help… this is why.”
She urges us to see people differently. To stop viewing homelessness as a character flaw, and start recognizing it as a crisis of compassion.
“They struggle daily to survive & nobody cares… So when you see homeless, help them. They’re not bad people.”
Her final line is not angry, but prayerful: “Spread love to others & it’s true—it finds its way back to you. Love & prayers to the crew at the store—that’s where my angels were (Pascagoula, MS).”
This isn’t just a personal story. It’s a social wake-up call.
When our most vulnerable citizens are left to survive on their own, it often falls on the shoulders of those who have nothing—and still give everything.
We must ask: Why does society keep failing people, only for the forgotten to pick up the pieces?
In the end, the question isn’t why she was helped by those with so little. The question is: why did everyone else look away?
Have a story like this? Email us at hello@nostalgicgrandma.com and share a moment that reminded you the world still has good in it
Disclaimer: Someone kindly shared this experience with Nostalgic Grandma. We’ve only made small changes to help it read better, keeping her message just as she shared it.
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