A lot can happen in one day.
 

John downsized from a three-story house to a twin-size mattress.
 

“I literally did walk out of the doors of my house into the doors of St. Vincent de Paul,” John said.
 

On July 9, 2025, John resided in his three-story, 3,000 square foot home in Crescent Hill, where he was a homeowner for the past 20 and a half years.
 

On July 10, John became a resident of Ozanam Inn Men’s Emergency Shelter, in a dorm with about a dozen other men.
 

It was something he never saw coming.
 

John grew up in a strict home environ­ment and decided to live on his own.
 

“I have been independent my entire life,” John added. “I had been used to taking care of myself ... since I was 17.”
 

In 1988-89, John enrolled in interior design at the University of Louisville. A love for homes, John opened his own commercial and residential cleaning business, Cosmopolitan Cleaning and Concierge, in 1997.
 

“I worked very, very hard,” he said. “I cleaned houses and ran errands. I did whatever my client’s needs were ... You name it, I took care of it.”
 

For nearly 25 years, John successfully ran his cleaning business until the pandemic blindsided everybody.
 

“When COVID hit, my phone started ringing and my clients were like, ‘We can’t have you and your staff in our home,’” John said. “My largest commer­cial account at the time … shut down its brick-and-mortar permanently.”
 

In Dec. 2020, John reluctantly closed his cleaning business. He got a job at GE, but worked in “excruciating pain” because his health began declining. He quit two years later, and now uses a walker. He will need spine surgery as soon as possible.
 

John tried to make it on his own, with some help from family and friends, with­out any income. It lasted two years until eventually his savings dried up, his home went in foreclosure, and was sold in an auction. He had to sell his personal and work cars, which were both Mercedes.
 

Two days before his eviction, John secured a bed at Ozanam Inn through Metro United Way’s 2-1-1 call center.
 

The experience has humbled John to the point of tears and emotional heartache.
 

“I’ve truly fallen,” John added. “I’ve never been this low in my life. I’ve lost everything.”
 

John celebrated his 59th birthday at Ozanam Inn.
 

“I spent my birthday here at the shelter. That’s also a new experience. I never thought I’d do that,” he said.
 

John says he has grown through it all.
 

“I didn’t fully understand, but at some point, I realized that I had to come to terms with it,” John said. “I said, ‘Well John, God wants you here for a reason … He brought you out of your comfort and put you where He wants.’”
 

Proverbs 24:16 has encouraged him, “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.”
 

“I’d be in my Mercedes SUV and see the guys holding up the cardboard signs and I’d say, ‘You know they’re buying booze with that money,’” John added. “I’d be so arrogant I wouldn’t give them a second thought. Then, I remembered they have eyes and God loves them. I go through life so differently now.”
 

John is rising again. He wants to pursue a real estate license. Through wraparound services, we helped him navigate disability payments, secure TARC3 transportation, and find permanent supportive housing.
 

“Their purpose is to help people tran­sition from being homeless into housing and getting started on a better life,” he said. “2026 is going to be a phenomenal year for me. The God of the mountain is the same God of the valley. We are blessed at St. Vincent de Paul.”