Overview: Reading to the homeless
The trip was part of an annual national tour where he recites poems and hands out his poetry books – all to bring encouragement and hope to those in life-threatening situations.
EAST VILLAGE – Kevin Nowak was in San Diego this week for a whirlwind tour — not unheard of for an account executive from South Carolina.
Instead of going to the San Diego Zoo or eating in Little Italy, he was visiting homeless shelters in East County, East Village, and Oceanside.
The trip was part of an annual national tour where he recites poems and hands out his poetry books – all to bring encouragement and hope to those in life-threatening situations.
“Me bringing poems is a way to bring inspiration,” Nowak said. “Maybe they haven’t heard it before, and it may change things.”
For Deacon John Roberts, who has arranged Nowak’s trips to Father Joe’s Villages the past few years, the poetry readings are part of welcoming unhoused people and truly seeing them when outside they face judgment and rejection.
“It’s all just a moment of levity,” he said. “If we do something that lightens their load for a little while, it’s worth doing.”
At FJV on Tuesday, Nowak spoke to groups of people during lunch in brief sessions, sharing one poem followed by a trivia game.
Kevin Nowak, of South Carolina, recites a poem at a cafeteria inside Father Joe’s Villages in East Village San Diego on Tuesday, Aug. 19. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego)
One woman who remembered Nowak from the day before requested that he recite “Longshot.”
Nowak gave her a booklet containing the poem, which reads: “I am the long shot, not considered strong / But they don’t know me. They have it all wrong… / I am the long shot with hope that’s unending.”
Showed an early interest in writing
Nowak always wanted to be a writer.
He had a few short stories and published some poems with tragic endings, but a turning point came in 1999 when his grandma died from cancer.
“Writing was probably the best gift that I had, so I wanted to use it as a way to honor her,” Nowak said.
Instead of the darker pieces he had been writing, he turned to hope-filled poetry.
In 2000, he published his first collection of poems, dedicated to cancer survivors. He began visiting cancer support groups for speaking engagements, and to hand out books.
His dual mission of visiting unhoused people came later.
On a whim while in Las Vegas in 2005, he called up a mission to see if they would be interested in a guest speaker.
They agreed.
The audience was initially skeptical, but his second poem, “Directions,” prompted cheers and requests for the book.
He returns to Las Vegas Rescue Mission each year.
He added San Diego to his trip 15 years ago and branched out from there to both faith-based and non faith-based programs alike in other parts of the country.
“Now I’ve spoken in every U.S. state and over 2,800 times,” Nowak said. “It started by just giving something a try that was outside of my comfort zone.”
His charity work is his true passion.
Nowak spends two or three weeks a year with people experiencing homelessness or cancer, plus weekend trips, in a rapid-fire schedule with up to 200 annual speaking engagements.
“I want every moment to count,” Nowak said. “It’s my purpose here. It feels when I come here way more what I’m supposed to be doing than it sometimes feels when I’m doing my 40 hour a week job.”
Hope in hard times
Nowak may have found his purpose as a poet for people going through hard times, but that does not mean the work is easy. Sometimes the poems of hope Nowak writes are messages to himself.
Nowak has had people assume the hard part of his charity work is public speaking, being away from his wife and four daughters, or risking personal safety in the places he visits. For example, after wrapping up in Oceanside, he heads to Skid Row in Los Angeles.
In reality, he says that the most challenging thing is seeing human suffering and knowing there is little that he can do.
“Out of everything I go through, seeing other people struggle is harder than anything else I do on this thing,” Nowak said. “It’s so hard to see people in a bad spot and know that you can’t fix it.”
Visiting the same missions repeatedly means Nowak has seen people in rehabilitation programs back in the general population, meaning they faltered in sobriety.
Roberts, the chaplain, has seen the unsheltered numbers rise in San Diego.
Affordability in the sunny city seems ever more elusive. Yet Roberts continues his work, knowing homelessness may never be solved.
“We still are called to try. And to be present to the ones today that we can be present to,” Roberts said.
To Nowak, writing is the skillset he has, so he uses it to help to the best of his ability. Meeting spiritual and emotional needs can be as important as meeting needs for shelter, food, and healthcare.
“If your head is in the wrong space, it’s really hard to to go out and be your best person. And so sometimes just giving someone something that can give them a little bit of an emotional spark can be just as good as a food spark,” Nowak said.