A decade ago, The Pitch ran a story about the city's homeless population ("A community hidden, but close").
In it, writer John Heuertz introduced Kansas City to Ron Aerts, a homeless man who lost both of his size-15 feet to frostbite. Since then, Aerts has become an icon of volunteer success with homeless outreach programs.
Thanks to a tip from Jenny Wheeling, a volunteer at homeless
services organization Uplift, The Pitch had a chance to follow up with Aerts,
who recently left town to be closer to his family in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Uplift helped Aerts get sober, move into stable housing and navigate the Social Security bureaucracy to get disability benefits. And once Aerts was walking on his own, he became a volunteer fixture mornings at Uplift.
The progress of mending his relationship with his parents and seven siblings after having only intermittent contact with them has gone pretty well, Aerts says. But after 35 years, there are going to be some bumps on the road.
"I'm the oldest [of the siblings]. The prodigal son who really went off the deep end," he says. "Fathers' Day was tough. It was the second day we were together. I didn't know what to say to them, and they didn't know what to say to me. We're at that stage."
But Aerts remains hopeful.
"I'm here, I'll make the every effort [to patch up relationships]," he says.
At 59 years old, Aerts says now is the right time for him to transition
to a laid-back atmosphere in the city where he grew up and get to know his family again, including nieces and nephews he's never met. He is optimistic that an upcoming weekend at a lake with his sister and her husband may lead to further healing.
In the 10 years since he first appeared in The Pitch, Aerts can be proud that he has maintained two things: his sobriety and his sense of humor. In 2000, he joked about Social Security telling him his feet weren't frostbitten enough. Now, he sees humor in how far he's come and how hard he works to maintain it. He is living in a boarding house across the street from a designated affordable housing apartment building he is on a waiting list for. He's struck by the irony of his view:
"The window looks right out to a bar," he says with a laugh. The old Ron was drinking a liter of vodka every day in 2000. But new Ron is a decade sober, and he's comfortable enough to be near booze and trust himself. Most of the borders are drinkers, which gives him a lot of time to himself.
As for his future, Aerts wants to do in Green Bay what he has spent the last 10 years doing Kansas City.
"My little hope and dream is to get into the building across the street, and find a place to volunteer for three or four hours in the morning and do something," he says.
Comments (0)