Thanksgiving blessings rained down on Joel Hartman, the homeless man whose good deed this month led to an outpouring of help, job offers and even a free stay at Atlanta’s Omni hotel.
Thursday, he received what he believes will do him the most good: a reunion with family.
The reunion gave the 36-year-old, who has been homeless in Atlanta since March, even greater hope that he could turn his life around. The past week has been magical, but he feels pressure to make a change. Family support, he said, could make the difference.
“They’re not saying I’m some crumb-bum. They’re saying you’re a human being,” Hartman said. “They’re saying you’re family.”
They met early Thursday at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, on a day rich in the tradition of families coming together. He hadn’t seen them in years; some he thought he might not even recognize. Somehow that wasn’t a problem. Their reunion was filled with long hugs, brimming emotions and a commitment that they would hitherto be a family.
“Look at you. You’ve grown up,” said Deanna Rodecki, who came from Indiana. She considers herself his “bonus-mother” since she had a long relationship with his father.
She looked him up and down. He was wearing nice jeans and new black jacket, and his dark hair and beard were freshly trimmed, all signs of the good will bestowed upon him in recent days. But his face could not hide the ragged wear of life on the streets.
She walked to him with a limp, since she recently had foot surgery. She didn’t want his first sight of her to be in an airport wheelchair.
Hartman has become something of a celebrity since he found a woman’s wallet while digging through a downtown Atlanta trash can looking for food. The wallet contained a credit card and an identification that indicated the woman was from France. Hartman tried several hotels before finding her at the Omni.
The general manager at the Omni, impressed by the good deed, went into the streets to find Hartman. Last Friday, the manager found Hartman with the help of security camera photos and gave him a $500 reward and a weeklong hotel stay.
Rodecki said she had been trying to find Hartman for a decade, searching his name on Internet sites, catching wind of him here and there only to find he had moved on.
Checking Facebook a few days ago, Rodecki saw her name mentioned in a link to a news story about Hartman being a Good Samaritan. The link had been posted by another relative.
“I watched the news clip and I was overwhelmed by tears,” she said. She right away called the Omni hotel, and the reunion was planned.
Rodecki knows this moment is the best chance Hartman has of redeeming his life. The publicity has created a groundswell of offers of steady work and places to stay while he gets on his feet.
But, with a mother’s wisdom, she realizes that he cannot take those steps until he is mentally and physically sound. Hartman says he became homeless after he was devastated by the death of his girlfriend. But he also acknowledges he has emotional problems such as an acute attention deficit disorder and has been unable to hold down a job.
“If you just throw him into a job, he’d fail,” Rodecki said.
She plans to help him. And she did not come alone.
She brought Hartman’s two half-brothers, the children of his father but born to different mothers. She had always hoped these brothers would come to consider themselves family.
“I’m a family person,” she said.
Her own son, Andrew Bennett Hartman Rodecki, is 22. He was only 3 months old when he last saw Hartman. The other half-brother, Erick Ryan Hordos, is 29. He and Joel believe they have never met. Both had difficult childhoods and are estranged from their mothers. Hartman spent time in foster care.
“Good to meet you,” Andrew Rodecki said to Hartman when they all greeted at the baggage claim area.
“Better late than never,” added Hordos.
It’s funny how family is, because they all started acting like kin quickly. Seeing Rodecki limp, the three sons rushed to convince her that they should get her an airport wheelchair. She declined, acting strong.
Back at the hotel, she noticed, while walking behind them, that they seemed to all have the same jaunt in their step. In their room, she unpacked gifts for Joel, including some pictures of him as a child, a memento of his late father, and a big tan parka.
Not that he was going back on the street, she stressed. “I just want you to always be warm.”
The family is talking about bringing Hartman to Indiana.
The brothers shared a steady stream of cigarettes. That irritated Rodecki, who vowed she would make them quit smoking.
Within an hour of the meeting, Rodecki was saying things like, “I’m so thrilled for my boys.”
Over a Thanksgiving meal — the first time the three half-brothers broke bread together — Andrew, the youngest, offered a toast.
“I propose a toast to long-lost families coming together,” he said.
Hartman, hoping to begin a new life with a new family, agreed.
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