Michelle Gowan and her daughter were both at a laundromat when they first met John Knight.
Knight revealed to them that he was 79 and living on the street and in his car. The Gowans helped him with his laundry, invited him to church, and Michelle's husband helped to fill up his car with gas. Michelle was mad that her husband didn’t get Knight’s information, but was hoping to see him at church on Sunday.
That Sunday, Knight sat in the same row as the Gowan family. “I don’t have my parents with me anymore, and for me, I just looked at this gentleman like he looks like everybody’s 'Pa Pa,'” said Gowan.
Gowan knew that the weather was about to get colder, so she asked her husband to buy a hotel room for Knight to stay in. She recalled that he called her just to tell her how great the water tasted in the room. Gowan knew that they couldn’t pay for the room long-term, but a friend at church connected her to Glenda Eades.
Eades is retired and has open her home to homeless people that are sent to her. She understands what is likes to be homeless. She said her divorce left her homeless. “Everything I owned was in my car and I can thank my daughter for putting them in my car. There were nights when I didn’t know where I would stay, but I always had a roof over my head at night. I could afford a hotel, some people can’t.”
Knight says his faith is very important to him. He feels like God brought him to the Gowan family. “By the help of the good Lord, everybody started pitching in. Everybody started blessing, then I had a place to stay, food, money for gas, and out of the cold.”
He prays every day in his car, before bed, and when we wakes up. When he prays, he prays for his children, the world, his health, and the people that have helped him.