I’m not into sports.  But I’m a big fan of teams.  Teams work together and depend on each member.  You don’t pick just anyone to be on your team.  You pick dependable, hard working people who will push toward success.

You pick homeless people.  Yes, that’s right, homeless people.  That’s what Urban Ministries did in Charlotte, and look what they accomplished.

How do you give the homeless new goals and dreams? Urban Ministries in Charlotte did just that by creating a street soccer team with homeless men playing men of all backgrounds, both racial and financial, all around the county.

“Because they look and act just like everyone else on that field they’re treated like everyone else,” said Fink.

The team went on to win a USA street soccer championship, which made the newspaper and caught the attention of Bert Hesse, Executive Director of Central Avenue Pictures.

via Homeless soccer team inspires movie filmed in Charlotte | WCNC.com Charlotte.

Here lived a man who was not invisible.  A man who was well liked and did good things for the community.  Here lived a homeless man.

There are many men like him on the streets where you live.  But how will you recognize him if you are afraid to look?

University of B.C. students hope to build a memorial for a homeless man who had been a fixture at the university’s Point Grey campus for more than a decade.

Travers Wimble, 83, was a regular on campus, often camped out with his paper in a chair between two vending machines on the south concourse in the student union building.

The Alma Mater Society council will vote Wednesday on whether to dedicate a bench in Wimble’s memory, according to The Ubyssey student newspaper.

“He would come here and watch (over) the building like it was his home,” said Elizabeth McGuire, a security guard.

“He would clean the building up and watch for people that were up to no good. He was a good guy…. He said hi to everyone that came by.”

Students would often leave him cups of coffee and food, she added.

On Feb. 8, Wimble reportedly collapsed near the corner of Wesbrook Mall and University Boulevard and died from natural causes.

Bouquets of flowers, cups of coffee, cookies, newspapers and letters currently surround the well-worn chair as a temporary memorial for the “man in the chair.”

“I saw him every time I came into this building,” said Melissa Crum, a first-year student who stopped by Wimble’s memorial on Tuesday.

“He was always here with his newspaper and he would just watch people for hours.”

via UBC planning memorial for homeless man – Yahoo! News Canada.