Michael Allen Patrick, reunited with his family

Author, Mellie Calderon | 07/07/2021

Michael Allen Patrick reunited with his family this year in February after 30 years of being unhoused. He is a hard-worker, talented mechanic, and writer. When asked about his message to people experiencing homelessness, Michael said: “You can do it. You can pull yourself up from your bootstraps and get her done.” 

After a divorce with his ex-wife, Michael was separated from his two daughters and was forced to live on the streets. He ended up relocating to Middletown, CA from Napa, CA where he was offered employment as an auto mechanic. He recalled how embarrassed he was about being homeless because of the mistreatment unhoused people often endure but he was able to overcome the stigma after getting to know Middletown’s locals. 

After five years, he left his previous job and got another job as a mechanic in the same town, where he worked for the next 25 years. In his time on the streets, he struggled with issues such as hospitalization due to COVID and alcohol abuse. Throughout these hardships,  he says his mother Celia was always on his mind. 

Michael reconnected with his mother with the help of Simtech and Miracle Messages’ Case-Solving Community. While it took a while due to the Covid-19 restrictions in place, he was able to reunite with his mother. In the same period, they were able to reconnect him with one of his daughters, Katie--who had submitted a “Find Them” form to Miracle Messages separately. He is grateful to have family who want him in their lives and is now in contact with both his daughters and other relatives. Michael currently resides in a van in his mother’s backyard and he enjoys helping her around the house. He shares that his mother told him that “we’re in this together.”

Mark, a volunteer in the Case-Solving Community, worked with the team to help Michael reunite with his family. The two formed a strong friendship where the two feel comfortable talking to each other about anything as Michael puts it. Mark describes it to be a “great experience” to get to know Michael and “ be able to drive down to spend the day with Mike.” 

Michael plans to continue using his mechanics skills and go back to fixing equipment and cars. With the help of Mark, he’s been getting important documents and paperwork completed that he had been unable to do when he was unhoused. All in all, Michael is grateful for all the support and help he received as he is “more amazed than I am anything, like wow, total strangers are willing to help me out.”