{"id":6374,"date":"2019-02-16T15:37:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T20:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.homelessvoice.org\/?p=6374"},"modified":"2020-06-22T19:59:27","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T19:59:27","slug":"billy-albert-a-man-of-many-hats-at-cosac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.homelessvoice.org\/?p=6374","title":{"rendered":"Billy Albert: A Man of Many Hats at COSAC"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Andrew Fraieli<\/em><\/h6>\n

Billy Albert\u2019s favorite color is midnight blue. Or maybe maroon too. It\u2019s a hard question he says. This, after elaborating on a bath salts twitching person in the fetal position that he came upon and was able to help.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helping people in bad situations, mostly the homeless, has become his job and his every day. <\/span>Having been at the shelters for about ten years \u2014 between the COSAC Foundation\u2019s previous Hollywood shelter and now Veteran\u2019s Inn in Lake City \u2014 he has taken many jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past \u2014 at the shelter \u2014 he\u2019s done \u201csecurity for about four years, every evening, no problem with that. Made sure everyone was safe, not preyed upon by the world,\u201d as well as \u201cthree nights a week I would work the front desk.\u201d <\/span>
\n\u201cI\u2019ve worn many hats so to speak,\u201d Billy says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Farther into the past, he held the hat of a military man in the Air Force. Billy served from 1978 to 1987 as a Still Photography specialist in the 380th Bomb Wing, part of the 45th Air Division. He spits out these numbers without hesitancy, numbers that make no sense to me, but define his service to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Afterwards, he shed the helmet of the military and donned the cap of a photo-mechanic at a printing company in Pompano, then making sets and eventually taking product photos himself. It was a job \u2014 he at one point did work on the 1980s Olympics in Lake Placid \u2014 but also a hobby of his.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne time, I took a picture of a squirrel sitting in a tree and what happened was, I took the picture and made an ortho [red-insensitive photo on film] of it. It came out unbelievable where the background was completely white and the tree and squirrel was just black, but with detail! That one was my favorite.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, he ended up not wearing a hat all, \u201cI lost my residence and went to visit my brother working at a labor hall. I was living in cardboard for three years while I was working in that labor hall. I\u2019d be helping my brother, sometimes mentally, sometimes financially.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He elaborated on the cardboard after I asked, \u201cI lived in between a big V in a tree with cardboard above me, and the cardboard was plasticize \u2014 rain wouldn\u2019t get on me. And I had moskovi ducks as my alarm clock, they have to be the earliest risers in the world \u2014 I\u2019d be the first in line for job opportunities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually his brother brought him to the Homeless Voice in Hollywood where he took his first hat as security.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now though he works the paper, \u201cDay to day, well, I go out and sell the paper; I mostly coordinate where we put it. We are trying to open up more places so when we get new people they know who we are, so it doesn\u2019t look like we are just asking for money.\u201d<\/span>
\nBut this not just a job to Billy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s helped me, it\u2019s seriously helped me. I felt like I was contributing something for the greater good so to speak, I was helping people who were there, that needed it. Right now, when they need help, I help.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The paper is meant to raise awareness and inform people about the homeless, it\u2019s also a way of giving people who come to the shelter work. This is the hat he wears today, and \u201cthe more people are informed the more they see that it is for a greater good for those who can\u2019t help themselves,\u201d Billy says.<\/span><\/p>\n

He revels in his job, taking care of the people at the shelter, and doing whatever he can to help. \u201cI enjoy when people tell me what we\u2019re doing is good. We are helping people into the shelter that need it and off the street.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I had a second interview with Billy where I was able to meet him in person. At 67 years old, he has a very youthful sounding voice behind his blue-gray eyes. After awhile another client at the shelter came over and Billy asked if he\u2019d gone to the doctors. <\/span>
\nHe had not, and Billy was quite concerned.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAre you kidding me! Man, you make sure you eat something. I\u2019m serious, you may need to go to the hospital, I mean that, seriously. I don\u2019t want you caving in on me on the street there, God forbid. Seriously, you know that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As the client left, I asked Billy for another story of him helping someone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike the time I got my hip broke? Well, some guy was beating the heck out of some girl \u2014 his girlfriend I guess out in front of the place \u2014 and I went out there to just look and find out what was going on. The guy came over to me, you know, and gave me the bum-rush and I go flying through the air and when I come down my femur \u2014 the top of my femur \u2014 is fractured. So I was screwed up for a little while, that’s why I walk with a limp for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He continues to don many different hats for the shelter, some new like helping renovate the COSAC Foundation\u2019s recently bought motel, but old and necessary hats too.<\/span>
\n\u201cI still do the laundry, the shirts, make sure everyone has the papers they need, water, their lunches. That\u2019s my heart and soul, to put on a good face for this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Fraieli Billy Albert\u2019s favorite color is midnight blue. Or maybe maroon too. It\u2019s a hard question he says. This, after elaborating on a bath salts twitching<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,340],"tags":[17,36,68,145,153,246,313,315],"class_list":["post-6374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homeless-voice-newspaper","category-vendor-stories","tag-air-force","tag-billy-albert","tag-cosac","tag-homeless","tag-homeless-voice","tag-photography","tag-veteran","tag-veterans-inn"],"yoast_head":"\nBilly Albert: A Man of Many Hats at COSAC - Homeless Voice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.homelessvoice.org\/?p=6374\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Billy Albert: A Man of Many Hats at COSAC - Homeless Voice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Andrew Fraieli Billy Albert\u2019s favorite color is midnight blue. 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