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Alumnus champions a humane way to help end homelessness

Thursday 3 September 2020

Alumnus Kevin F. Adler (2007, Social & Political Sciences) has established a remarkable track record of mission-led innovation, which has culminated in his role as Founder and CEO of an award-winning charity. Miracle Messages provides a humane way to help end homelessness by reuniting families, strengthening local social support systems for our unhoused neighbours, shattering stigmas and empowering people everywhere to get involved. Kevin continues to draw upon his experiences from his time at St Catharine’s, and has shared with us how the College community can support Miracle Messages.

Founding Miracle Messages

Kevin was able to start Miracle Messages thanks to his expertise in the non-profit field and his experience of start-ups and launching an online fundraising platform for under-resourced schools. He developed his ideas for the initiative while participating in the Presidential Leadership Scholars programme, a TED residency, the MassChallenge accelerator and Singularity University.

Since founding Miracle Messages (in honor of his uncle, who lived on-and-off the streets for 30 years), Kevin and his team have made an immediate and tangible impact on the lives of people living on-and-off the streets:

  • 375 reunions facilitated, with an average time separated of 15 years
  • 80% delivered messages positively received by long-lost loved ones
  • 120 matches made via Miracle Friends, a virtual buddy system for the homeless
  • Over 100 million views on stigma-shattering stories and 600+ media features
Pictured: Kevin connecting with an unhoused neighbour.

Building on personal and academic insights into trauma

Kevin looks back on his time at Catz fondly – as an intellectually and socially rich period in his life. Like many alumni, connections made in College proved to be the start of life-long friendships.

He commented, “Ultimately, the incredible experiences and connections gained at Catz gave me greater confidence to ask pressing questions and a deeper drive to make a difference.”

While setting up Miracle Messages, Kevin was also writing a book, entitled Natural Disasters as a Catalyst for Social Capital, based on his Master’s thesis. In fact, he sees the charity’s innovative approach to homelessness in similar terms to the natural disasters and shared traumas that were the focus of his postgraduate studies:

“Homelessness is in many ways a highly individualised disaster or trauma, with a comparable breakdown in systems to what we see in natural disasters. It is difficult to reconcile the solidarity and empathy typically extended to people who are affected by natural disasters with mainstream attitudes to people who are homeless.”

Sadly, in his final term, Kevin had first-hand experience of trauma. When he found out that that his mother had been admitted to the intensive care unit with stage IV breast cancer, a break from study was agreed with the College so that he could return to the United States to be by his mother’s side and the College provided financial support during this difficult time. After her passing, he returned to the College to complete his degree.

He explained, “I know how important personal connections were for me during a traumatic time in my own life. From my mother’s initial diagnosis, to the profound loss that followed her death, I felt well supported by Fellows and staff at the College. The Catz community provided a comforting space, a nurturing and supportive setting for embracing others and being embraced.”

How the Catz community can help

As part of its charitable aim of ‘ending relational poverty on the streets’, the Miracle Messages website offers a range of ways to contribute and play a part, including serving as a Miracle Friend or joining their worldwide network of volunteer ‘digital detectives’, who help locate loved ones, deliver messages and reunite people experiencing homelessness with their loved ones.

In addition, Kevin wanted to challenge all of us to go one step further:

“During the global emergency caused by COVID-19, individualised moments of trauma are happening due to homelessness, compounded by feelings of desperation and shame. I’d encourage others in the Catz community to watch one of our videos and then, wherever you are in the world, take steps to have a conversation and befriend at least one person who is homeless or experiencing home insecurity by the end of the year.”

Catz students are also welcome to apply for internship opportunities available in 2020 and 2021, which will contribute to research that will be published as part of a new book on homelessness that Kevin is developing with Professor Donald W. Burnes.

Everyone at St Catharine’s enjoys hearing from our alumni and we’re incredibly proud of the many different ways that our students past and present contribute to wider society locally, nationally and globally. If you have any news to share, please do not hesitate to contact our Alumni & Development Office (alumni.office@caths.cam.ac.uk).
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