Everyone Deserves A Home

        What’s up, guys! My name is Yuji Steele, and I grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I lived there for about 18 years until I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, to start my college life. Chattanooga is home to me. My whole family still lives there, and coming back to them during breaks or random weekends is one of the most rewarding things in my life. I love going over to my grandfather’s house or my aunt's house, too! I have always grown up with them, and it evokes a lot of nostalgia. My loving family has taught me what it means to make a home. Home isn’t just a building where you live; you have to make it the home you desire. It’s about the people who live there and the life you create with them. 

With Thanksgiving being this week, this sense of home and nostalgia is even stronger. Thanksgiving means a gathering of the whole family in our Aunt Carmen’s house to eat, talk, and hang out together. We don’t see each other too often throughout the year, so times like these are really special. Most of the time, my cousins and I go fishing before the Thanksgiving lunch just to hang out with each other more and do something that we love to do. That being said, it can get really cold, but the fishing is always worth it.

        Home to me is more about the location. It's about the place where you feel happy, secure, comfortable,

and relaxed. It’s about the memories that you make with your friends and family. It's about the warmth of your

bed and the warmth of your shower. It’s about the feeling where, after a long and hard day, you can just sit down

and decompress. Ultimately, it's for the hope of starting a new, fresh day after a good night's rest. 

Through Hearts for Housing, I hope we can help provide this to our neighbors in need by partnering with

VMC. Not only that, I hope to spread awareness about the fact that there are people in the world who are not as

fortunate as we are. Many of us were born into a warm, comfortable home where we didn’t have to worry about

the next place we had to sleep. Everyone deserves to have a place they can call home. A place where they can rest

easy knowing that tomorrow will be a fresh new day. But before tackling the world, it’s important to start local.

People who live only a few miles from you may be wondering when the next time they can sleep comfortably

during a freezing night, when they can eat a warm, fulfilling meal, or when they can take a nice, warm shower.

It’s important to notice the small things in our lives that we take for granted every day, but overlook how

something so small in our lives can make another person’s whole day. If you want to make a difference, you can;

ultimately, it’s a choice. A powerful choice, one that often means you are sacrificing something for someone else

because you are driven by love to help humans like yourself. 

Please go check out our GoFundMe and support if you can:

 https://www.gofundme.com/f/join-hearts-for-housing-aid-knoxvilles-homeless