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Our dad met his friend Terry, during the Christmas of 2008 when he was a volunteer at "LifeShare", Manchester and Terry was a guest. Like many of the guests dad's friend had been made homeless after difficult personal circumstances and now slept rough. If he was in the right place at the right time he might find a shelter for the night - on camp beds in a draughty, noisy hall with many other homeless men and women. Only three months before he had been working as a chef in Stockport and living at home with his wife.

My dad and Terry had a few things in common. Divorce, financial difficulties, despair. The reality was that there was not much separating the two of them. Yet Terry was living on the streets. Somehow dad had been spared this.

Two years on and we were living with our dad in St Albans. Terry called dad to say he was sleeping rough at Marble Arch. It was the winter of 2010 and bitterly cold. Dad met him for a coffee. The nightly chill on Terry's kidneys was clearly making him very unwell. 

At the end of their conversation dad was free to head back to St Albans, his home, central heating and a fridge full of food. Terry was heading back to an ice block of a paving slab, that's if his space had not been pinched.

Dad call Emmaus St Albans. They had one place spare left but they were saving it for someone with a specific talent.

Dad asked what they were looking for? They said they were looking for a chef to run the kitchen.  Our dad gave thanks to God for His amazing timing.

The next day Terry was at Emmaus St Albans with a warm room to call his own and a reason to get up in the morning.

We had dinner with Terry just a few weeks later on Boxing Day 2010.

That's why.