#super8homeless

[homelesstohoward]

A Final Word from George and Joyce Gruss Regarding Super 8's Eviction of a Homeless Couple in Columbus Ohio.

Thank you to everyone who helped spread our story via social media. We have been a bit overwhelmed by the attention. We never expected to get any sort of positive outcome from this situation, but we’re happy to tell you that on Friday we spoke with Michael Mueller, Senior VP of Super 8, and a refund has been initiated.  We plan to donate that money to Maryhaven, a phenomenal organization in Columbus that pounds the pavement every day, helping the homeless.  

Super 8 has taken full responsibility for the actions of one independent owner/operator, and promises to work on the company’s internal training and policies so that this never happens again.  Michael expressed gratitude to us for bringing this to his attention, before apologizing on behalf of the hotel in question. 

In addition to the refund, and promise of internal efforts to prevent this from happening again, Super 8 is now working behind the scenes with our friends at Homeless To Higher Ed, as they attempt to identify Stephanie and Louis. Should we find them, Michael has generously offered to provide air and ground transport as well as hotel rooms for them as they get back on track. 

We hope you’ll take a look at this description of them and contact us if you’ve seen or know Stephanie and Louis. If you should encounter them, tell them that Mr. George and Miz Joyce are looking for them. Let them know they’ve made the news and we still want to help!

In the meantime, we are eagerly exploring ways we can help here in northeastern Ohio.  If our story outraged you, we can only hope that it didn’t discourage you from trying to make a difference…in fact, we hope our experience inspires you to find a way to help the homeless where you are. 

Once again, we thank you for helping us bring this to Super 8’s attention, but for us, this was never about taking down a hotel chain...it was about helping people. We look forward to helping the homeless in our own backyard and encourage everyone to do the same.

 Warmly,

George and Joyce Gruss

[homelesstohoward]

H2H Guest Project: Find #StephAndLou

H2H started on Tumblr, when Jessica Sutherland shared the story of James Ward. With your help, #HomelessToHoward went viral overnight, and led to the creation of Homeless to Higher Ed.  With our humble roots in mind, we want to keep on pushing homeless stories to the forefront.

Allow usto present our new initiative, GUEST PROJECTS.

ProjectOne: #StephAndLou

On Valentine’s Day, H2H’s graphic designer, Dave, shared a screengrab of a Facebook status from his father, George Gruss, asking everyone to help spread the sad story, so Super 8 would make it right. 

The global community was outraged, the story quickly went viral, and reforms were demanded.  Then the media got involved.

Super 8 has since promised to make lasting changes to the way they do business, so that thus never happens again. Not only has the hotel joined with Jessica and the H2H team to track down the young couple, Super 8 has also promised to provide transportation and housing in their family of hotels as needed. 

HELP US FIND STEPHANIE AND LOUIS.

While we review surveillance footage and comb the area, won’t you check out the description of the homeless couple below, based on Jessica’s interviews with both George and Joyce Gruss, and see if you can help us find them?  Spread the word with the hashtags #StephAndLou and #FindThem.

“We only know what they told us, but they both were of average height and build, and looked to be in their mid-20s. Stephanie had dark blond, or maybe light brown, curly hair.  She wore it pushed under a white knit cap, and had either blue or hazel eyes. Louis had mid-length, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and was wearing a green knit hat, with a face protector with the nose cut off. They were dressed for winter, but their jeans were wet to the calf.  They definitely seemed new to the cold, especially sub-zero wind chills.    This falls in line with what they told us about themselves: Louis hails from Alabama, and Stephanie from a small town in South Carolina, near Charlotte and the North Carolina border.  She kept referring to Columbus as “Columbia,” which made us think they hadn’t been in Ohio long.    Stephanie and Louis made no secret that they’d struggled with addiction in the past, and we didn’t judge them for it.  They claimed to be traveling from South Carolina to work at a rehab mission in Michigan with friends before being left behind in Columbus. They’d lost their bags early into their struggles, including their identification.  They felt lost in Columbus and seemed ready to go home.     When we asked how we could help, they offered us $60 in cash, that they had earned working temporary jobs—Louis specifically mentioned sign spinning for a local business—if we could help them get a room for one night. Even after we’d bought them three nights, they still tried so hard to give us their only cash.  We would have never accepted it, but we’re particularly glad we refused, since they were later evicted. 
 Beyond the story they shared with us, it’s worth mentioning that they both had distinct, but not strong Southern accents, and it was clear they came from different places, though we’re no dialect experts. They were very respectful, choosing to call us “Miz Joyce and Mr. George” after we all shared our first names. They were very vocal about their Christianity and mentioned that they hoped to open their own mission one day, since they had made the mistakes but survived to learn the lessons.   If Stephanie or Louis have crossed your path or sound familiar, please do contact us at [email protected]   

If you encounter them, please do tell them that Miz Joyce and Mr. George are looking for them.  Maybe pull out your phone and show them that they’ve made the news, and how much people want to get them the help they need.

If our experiences touched you in any way, we encourage you to help out the homeless in your area. Doing good feels good.”