Thursday, May 25, 2023
I knew Stephen because we both worked in City of Cambridge programs to address homelessness.
Stephen was the longtime director of the Carey Program, a transitional housing program which helped homeless men – many of whom had spent time in prison or dealing with addiction – rebuild their lives.
Stephen brought a combination of tough love, compassion, and resourcefulness to his work and maintained an unrelenting dedication to the men in his program. He was steadfast in his support for their efforts to make good: to sustain recovery, to find and maintain gainful employment, to establish healthy relationships, and to achieve stability in housing.
In a world that too often gives up on those who have stumbled and fallen, and that chooses quick fixes over ongoing efforts, Stephen was an anomaly, someone committed to providing the consistent support his clients needed to overcome the obstacles standing in the way of housing and financial stability. As circumstances dictated, he played the role of drill sergeant, father figure, older brother, cheerleader, or consultant … whatever it took to make a difference.
While he would be the first to credit the Carey participants’ hard work and determination to turn their lives around, there is no doubt in my mind that his evident dedication to the men and his ability to help them discover and leverage strengths they may not even have known they had were key factors in their successes in moving from homelessness to housing and attaining their other goals.
It was my honor and pleasure to know and work with Stephen and to get to know him as a friend. His passing is a loss for all whose lives he touched and for the community he dedicated himself to.
