Walter

One day in December of 1969, 12-year-old Walter came home from Sacred Heart, a Catholic school in East Boston, and his mom was not there.

“I knew something was wrong right away,” said Walter. “My mom was always there when I got home. She raised me and my older brother Roy with so much love and made sure that no matter how many jobs she was working—and she worked all the time—she was home to send us off to school and when we got home.”

“I just started praying, please bring mom back. But a friend of my mom’s told me and Roy that mom had died.”

His brother Roy went to live with an aunt, and Walter went to live with his grandfather outside of New York City. “He took me in, but he was never home. There was never any love, and I missed my mom and my brother so much.”

Walter’s grandfather sent him to military academy for high school. “My junior year I went off campus without permission for a slice of pizza. They told my grandfather, who pulled me out of school. And when I got to his house, he told me I was no longer welcome. He told me to get out.”

“I had nowhere to go,” said Walter. “I was 16 years old and all I had was $16 and an old trunk that I jammed as much stuff in as I could. On the way out of my grandfather’s building, a man in the lobby gave me a dolly so I didn’t have to drag the trunk on the ground. I never forgot that act of kindness.”

Walter eventually rolled the trunk to a police station. “I remember the police asking me who they could call to come get me, and I had to tell them I had no one,” said Walter. “There was no one I could call. When that finally hit me, it was devastating.”

One of the policemen knew about Covenant House, which in 1973 included a 16-bed group home on West 4th Street.

“That place saved my life,” said Walter. “I can still remember the counselor’s names, Regis, Jim, and Phil. And there was a nun who worked out of the main office on 44th & 8th Ave who treated me like I was part of her family; I wish could remember her name. They were all great, great people and I’ll never forget how kind they all were to me.”

Covenant House helped Walter enroll in East Side Prep where he finished high school and was one of 50 students city-wide to be honored at the Waldorf-Astoria, where he presented his original poem, ‘Have You Ever Been Homeless.’ “That was a night I will never forget. And everyone from Covenant House came to share it with me. They were my family.”

Walter has lived an amazing life, working at the World Trade Center, on Broadway, and then moving to upstate New York to be in the restaurant business. But he always felt something was missing until he located his brother Roy who was living in Arizona. “I moved out there to be with Roy, and after being apart for 20 years, being family again was amazing. He passed a few years ago and I feel so blessed we were able to re-connect.”

Today Walter is retired and looking to give back. “I think it is awesome that you have carried on the work of Covenant House, and expanded to help so many more people,” he said. “Young people should not be homeless. I want to help in any way I can. And even though I don’t have a lot of money, I want whatever I have when I pass to go to Covenant House to help more young people. I am forever grateful Covenant House was there for me when I was 16 and had no place to go. Thank you so much.”