A victory for Red

Home » Community

Posted December 10, 2021 | By James Blevins
james@ocalagazette.com

 

With a long, white beard, peppered in fading red—hence where he gets his nickname—James “Red” Sanborn, 55, is a man who radiates quiet dignity and a modest good nature.

Born in Vermont but spending much of his early life growing up in New Hampshire, Sanborn was 27-years-old when his parents died, a singular event that did much to unmoor him from the foundation of day-to-day society and place him in his current homeless state.

A state he has existed in, off and on, for the better part of 20 years.

“My parents died, so I traveled down to North Carolina, staying with my sister for a time. She wanted me to stay where they are but…she’s got her family, two girls. I love my nieces, but they don’t need me around like this,” he said.

Initially, he worked and lived and was successful, but then the Great Recession came and forever changed the balance of Sanborn’s life.

“I worked for this company for 14 years,” he remembered. “It was during the recession when things got really slow that I realized I was going to get laid off. They told me I could go and draw unemployment, but I would never do that.”

Sanborn said he had some money squirrelled away in his 401(k), but that money only lasted for so long. It was in 2014, as his money began to run out, that he first thought about traveling down to Florida.

“I thought, what about Central Florida? I had heard about Ocala,” Sanborn recalled. “So I did. And I’ve been here in Florida seven years now. At first, it was rough. But after meeting [everyone at] Interfaith…they’ve done a lot for me. Not just giving me a place to stay, but hopefully, a home.”

According to Interfaith Emergency Services CEO Karla Grimsley-Greenway, Sanborn currently operates as Interfaith’s de facto groundskeeper, keeping the campus as clean as possible.

“We have hundreds of people put traffic on our campus every day,” said Grimsley-Greenway. “And some of them are very responsible and pick up after themselves. Some don’t. He makes sure our campus is clean. He helps make Interfaith represent well. Because people will accuse us of being a blight on the community and all that; he keeps that from happening.”

But the street hasn’t always been as kind to Sanborn as Interfaith has been. He detailed an incident from three years ago when he was beaten severely by four assailants in the night.

“I had just left the Salvation Army and I got jumped by four others in the dark,” recalled Sanborn. “It was right after they worked me over for a bit that one guy in the group said they should leave me alone. And it’s like…I remember that I appreciated that guy for saying that.”

After the beating, Sanborn described getting up, finding a place to sleep, and turning in for the night.

“The bad homeless people are out there,” explained Grimsley-Greenway, “but the thing is the good people are the ones that are the victims. The bad prey on the good people who are decent.”

Her answer to that issue is to try and house as many of the most vulnerable of the local homeless community that she can.

The Marion County Board of County Commissioners recently approved Interfaith’s purchase of a 14-unit building to be used for permanent support housing in a unanimous decision on Dec. 7.

The complex is located off N.E. 14^th Street and will include on-site case management and many other wrap-around services such as trauma counseling, helping those in need get a leg up in life.

Sanborn was one of the first six people chosen to be housed there.

“I’m ready,” he said. “I mean, I used to have my own place. I used to work, pay my own rent, my own power. Everything myself, every month.”

Sanborn knows a lot of people who didn’t choose to be homeless, but once you fall into it, he said, “It’s a lot harder than people realize to dig your way out of it.”

Despite his many hardships, Sanborn does still find joy in his day-to-day life, no matter how harried and uncertain it can sometimes seem.

“When I get off work, I got a couple of friends that do come down from their own camps and are good friends of mine,” he said. “We’ll go and play some pool. Have a couple beers.”

It’s moments like these, spent with friends he’s made through the organization that has accepted and given him purpose, that Sanborn fully appreciates the decision he made seven years ago to travel down to Florida, and thus, discover Ocala.

“These people have been a blessing to me,” said Sanborn of Interfaith. “I greatly appreciate them doing everything that they’ve done for me, but it’s time for me to show them. Make the most of this opportunity. That’s all I hope to do next. Show them thank you.”

Editors’ note: This is the first of an on-going series of profiles meant to humanize the homeless within the City of Ocala. Through this series, we hope to put a human face on an issue that is often “otherized” or pushed out of sight.