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To make donations, go to www.atlantastepupsociety.org/donations.html, or atlstepupsociety@aol.com or call 404-892-3392.
One day he was a proud spit-and-polish Army captain, guarding his country. Then, seemingly overnight, he was guarding the White House from directly across the street, in pristine, well-clipped Lafayette Square, sleeping in rags on dirty park benches or cardboard boxes. Robert Barber was a drunk, a drug addict — homeless, hapless and hopeless.
Well, almost hopeless. As a college graduate, with a business degree from the University of Maryland, something inside told him his life wasn’t over, that he might yet move home to Atlanta and become successful.
So finally, he sought help. And got sober. And when he moved home in 1990, “I’d been clean for a year.”
But he starting using again.
“I was homeless at home,” says Barber, 58. “I got suicidal. One day I called 911 and said I needed help. She sent me to a treatment center.”
He started going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and he’s been sober ever since.
After working a few years for Goodwill Industries, he married a retail executive and soon they opened a 501(c)3 non-profit of their own, Atlanta Step-Up Society, which is dedicated to helping male addicts get on their feet and live productive lives.
They started out by buying three rickety trucks, with money saved from odd jobs, and began picking up used furniture, which they sell from an 11,000 square foot showroom on Monroe Drive. Barber soon put up his own money to buy houses for recovering addicts to live in and gave them jobs at the store.
“We have 12 people living in houses,” he says. “We have gotten some grants and corporate donations. We have eight full-time employees.”
And, says wife Martha, “we both work on weekends.”
Total sales last year reached $500,000, he says, not enough to “clear a profit but enough to accomplish our mission. We have helped more than 500 people since starting out.”
United Way helps Step-Up financially, says Protip Biswas, UW’s vice president of community outreach.
“We want to end homelessness for veterans in Atlanta,” he says. “Robert helps with this. He provides housing, gets them clean, gets or gives them jobs.”
Ralph Grieco, 71, a retired BellSouth executive, has been a volunteer since he heard about Barber’s efforts, and now is Step-Up’s board chairman.
“I told him I heard things about him that were too good to be true, but they are true,” Grieco says. “He and Martha bought their first transition home before they bought their own home.”
Retired Delta Airlines exec Bob Johnson, 69, has been on the board since he walked into the facility and saw stacks of books.
“I volunteer every week,” he says. “Now we sell donated books, too. He is strict. They have curfews. He teaches them that they must be trustworthy.”
Nellyne Johnson-Moore, 62, of Union City, has been a regular customer for more than 10 years.
“I patronize them because they give back to the community,” she says.
Psychologist Ray Alexander, who’s also on Step-Up’s board, says Barber “is a down to Earth guy who really cares.”
“I want to help people,” Barber says. “I’ve been there.”
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