NEW MIAMI, Ohio — There’s a decal on the back window of his truck that says, “thank you Jesus.” And inside, there are boxes of coats and hygiene supplies.
This winter, Daniel Hatfield slept in that truck. Not because he didn’t have a place to go. But because he didn’t want to forget where he came from.
Almost everyone I talk to about Hatfield tells me this story.
WATCH: He's turning years of addiction into outreach
His wife tells me another one — one where she used to bang on the doors of drug dealers. If a red car pulled up outside, those dealers would yell.
“I’m here to take you back to your miserable life,” his wife would say.
Hatfield spent two years living in the woods because of his addiction. He’d gone from painkillers after surgery to heroin — it was cheaper — and eventually lost his business. He almost lost his family.
“I was horrible. I was a thief. I was a lying, cheating, conniving junkie,” Hatfield said. “I’m not ashamed of what I did. I’m proud of what I quit.”
Last month, Hatfield celebrated 10 years clean. And now he’s putting his energy — and thousands of dollars of his own money — into an outreach center in this Butler County village where one in four people live below the poverty line.
“He’s helping a place that’s been in dire need for a long time,” said William Norris, who works with Hatfield. “We all need a helping hand sometimes.”
Norris is one of several people remodeling an apartment with Hatfield in Fairfield. Downstairs, Joe Stout puts a Mountain Dew in his tool belt and smiles. He tells me he’s gained 15 pounds from eating the free meals at Hatfield's Faith Mission Outreach.
I tell him it’s hard to tell.
“He means a lot to me,” Stout said. “He’s the only person I got.”
I met Hatfield this winter when I was doing a story about people experiencing homelessness during dangerously cold weather. I spent the afternoon with an outreach specialist who was trying to make sure people were OK.
Faith Mission Outreach was one of the places we checked.
“I see myself in some of these people,” Hatfield said. “I can see where they hurt, and I can see what they’re looking for.”
I interviewed him then, but didn’t have enough room to include him in my story. So I came back on a rainy evening in March, while they were serving dinner. When I get there, Tracey Myers-Birgel offers me cake. Then, she introduces me to her dog. He’s not allowed behind the gate where she’s making vegetable soup.
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“That’s Junior Little Man,” Myers-Birgel said. “Daniel jokes that he’s kind of our mascot.”
Myers-Birgel is helping out because she's one of the people who stayed here this winter, when Hatfield opened the building up as a warming center. She said without this place, she would've been living in a storage unit — because she couldn’t find anywhere else that would take her dog.
“It’s always warm in here,” Myers-Birgel said.
Hatfield tells me he’s helped 13 people get into rehab programs since Faith Mission Outreach opened in October.
Eddie Philpot tells me he’s never used drugs, like a lot of people here, but four heart attacks left him without a job. He comes here every day and says the food is great. He tells me he's moving into new housing soon.
Thanks to the people Hatfield connected him with.
“You come here as a stranger," Hatfield said. "But you leave as family.”
If you'd like to help Hatfield and Faith Mission Outreach, you can email faithmissionoutreach777@gmail.com. There is a QR code for donations on the center's Facebook page.
