William Acker Miami: Sales Representative for an Automotive Parts Supplier
William Acker of Miami is a sales representative for an automotive parts supplier. He is also a contributor to the Miami Homeless Coalition and the Miami Food Bank. Since graduating from high school, William Acker of Miami has become increasingly concerned with the issue of homelessness. He says that for him, it is not simply a matter of wanting to give back to society, as important as that is. "It's personal for me," he says. "One of my best friends growing up – he dropped out of sight not long after we got out of high school. None of us saw him for more than a year. We finally found out that he had some kind of breakdown – I still don't know the details on that – and had been living on the streets for most of the time he was missing." William Acker of Miami and a group of friends went into action and have gotten their friend the help that he needs. But the experience taught him that the homeless can happen to almost anyone. "All it takes is a run of bad luck," he says. Since beginning to educate himself on the issue, he has learned that more than six hundred thousand Americans are homeless on any given night. "That's equivalent to a city the size of Boston," he says. According to recent statistics, the rate of homelessness among veterans has declined recently, but the effects of the sluggish economy have increased the rate for other groups, such as the chronically homeless. Through the Miami Food Bank, William Acker of Miami began volunteering at a local soup kitchen, and he says the experience has changed him. "I met some amazing people there," he says. "The people who run the soup kitchen are some of the most dedicated people I have ever met in my life. And the visitors who use the service are another incredible group. There are a lot of sad stories. But there really, there are people from all walks of life. Children. It can be heartbreaking." He says he was amazed at how educated some of the homeless people were, and could not understand how they had to resort to coming to a soup kitchen just to sustain themselves. "It's a hard world. It's a hard life. There is not enough pity, not enough understanding," he says. His experiences with the food bank and the soup kitchen, says William Acker of Miami, has forever changed his opinion about the affects of homelessness on society.
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