Despite a considerable age difference, Anthony Carrasco and Nardo Andrus are like any two friends. They play chess, go on dog walks together, and share a passion for music and history.
"He has an encyclopedic knowledge of music, especially jazz music,” Carrasco, a UC Berkeley law student, said of the 60-year-old Andrus.
It is a typical friendship with an atypical, yet heartwarming, backstory.
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It all began last year on Ridge Road in Berkeley when Carrasco peered out of the bedroom window of his student co-op and saw evidence that someone was living in a carport behind the building next door.
“I could see that there were people's belongings in the carport. They were taking about half the space," Carrasco said.
What Carrasco did next had everything to do with what had come before in his life. He ventured over to the carport with a rotisserie chicken and a pot of coffee, looking to introduce himself.
“I think looking at (unhoused) folks as people and seeing their dignity is essential,” Carrasco said.
Carrasco knew about being homeless from experience. When he was growing up in Southern California, his family was homeless for a decade. Five people living in one motel room was a normal environment for him during childhood.
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It was an experience that shaped both his past and his future. It is the reason he is studying law, hoping to one day guide policy that will help those living on the streets.
"Especially given how much my mother's endured and how much my mother's persevered through. If I can take what she's given me and help people like her, people like my family, then it really makes it all worth it for me,” Carrasco said. “I want to study homelessness, evidence-based solutions to homelessness, homelessness among families.”
On that journey to big picture solutions, though, Carrasco hasn’t lost sight of the individuals who make up that picture. It’s why he went to the carport and introduced himself to Andrus.
“I think that a lot of folks, when they see somebody on the street, they think there's no helping this person there, there's no changing the situation,” Carrasco said.
He, it goes without saying, does not feel that way.
“What I know to be true is what a lot of people think is impossible,” Carrasco said.
Andrus had been living in the carport for a year and a half and told Carrasco that he knew it was not a good situation but was at a loss to change it. Carrasco began working with him, step by step, to get his life back on track.
“I told him he could think of me as his personal assistant,” Carrasco said.
Carrasco helped Andrus obtain an identification card from the Department of Motor Vehicles. He helped him get an email address, the first he ever had. Armed with those, Carrasco helped Andrus enroll in classes at Berkeley City College and apply for financial aid. Once those hurdles were cleared, Andrus was ready to move into student housing –the first firm roof over his head in months.
“He provided me with an opportunity,” a grateful Andrus said.
"I heard that story. I understood that story. I wanted to be part of that story’s conclusion, which was getting into housing,” Carrasco said.
The story does not end there, however. Carrasco and Andrus see each other regularly these days, engaging in those conversations, chess matches and dog walks. Each has gained a lifelong friend as well as taught the world about the power one individual can have to change the life of another for the better.
For his act of kindness toward Andrus, Corrasco was a finalist for a Chris Kindness Award. It's a local nonprofit that collects kindness nominations from the public via their website and every month gives a $1000 prize to recognize a kind act.
