Patrick Aitken News Today

Alabama News Updated:   Patrick Aitken serves the homeless through the Mid-Alabama Coalition for the Homeless and River City Church. But he says its not just a job. For him, it’s a calling. “People know me around Montgomery in the downtown area by the guy who wears the shirt ‘Homeless Lives Matter.’ That’s how they know me– ‘the Homeless Lives Matter guy.’ And I don’t mind being called that,” said Aitken. For over seven years Patrick Aitken has been a case manager and outr...

Sun May 30 2021 | Matt Hamilton | College COURTESY OF NCAA PHOTOS Patrice Aitken was hard to miss before, during and after Saturday’s NCAA semifinal game between Virginia and Maryland. You just had to follow the flag. She walked the rain-soaked concourse of Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. before watching her son, Dox, and the Virginia Cavaliers fight for a spot in the national championship game, waving the blue flag with a team’s “V” logo encrusted in white and orange. Security...

Graduates overcome jail, addiction, more to begin new lives BRAD HARPER, Montgomery Advertiser FacebookTwitterEmail MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Kristin Willmon was in her 40s when she managed to escape what she would only describe as “a bad marriage” in another city. But she escaped into an addiction and fell into a life on the streets of Montgomery. Roderick Wilkerson was in his 30s, also homeless, and in and out of jail. “I didn’t know where my next meal was going to come from,” he sa...

The nonprofit Hope Inspired Ministries job training program started with 41 students across Montgomery and Lowndes counties. By graduation day, only 10 remained.

Job training graduates overcome pasts of jail, addiction, homelessness to begin a new life The Montgomery Advertiser 5/11/2021 Brad Harper, Montgomery Advertiser Kristin Willmon was in her 40s when she managed to escape what she would only describe as “a bad marriage” in another city. But she escaped into an addiction and fell into a life on the streets of Montgomery. Roderick Wilkerson was in his 30s, also homeless, and in and out of jail. “I didn’t know where my next...

Alabama responds to rise in homelessness during pandemic Courtney Chandler © Provided by Montgomery-Selma WSFA Lydia Pickett, executive director of the Mid-Alabama Coalition for the Homeless, discusses homelessness in Alabama. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Homeless advocates say those who are homeless are normally private people. “I wouldn’t say they’re anti-social but they want to remain invisible,” case manager Patrick Aitken said. The homeless population is growing du...

When people talk about Richard Williams, their thoughts turn to the characteristics that have made the young Montgomery pastor stand out in his short time in the city. For Yeteva Johnson, it was how he treated the staff at the Capitol City Grille when she first met him. “He spoke to them with the same respect as he would the mayor,” she recalled. For Father Manuel Williams of Resurrection Catholic, it was when he saw Richard Williams operate a forklift, moving pallets of food set to be dist...