Community coming together to help

Jewish Family Services will oversee a fund on behalf of the 11-year-old and his mother, who are homeless.

Public reaches out to homeless boy, mom
Price, Rita. The Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 19, 2018.

A local social-services agency is coordinating efforts to help an 11-year-old homeless boy whose extraordinary reading habits and positive outlook drew the attention of Downtown librarians and touched the hearts of Dispatch readers.

A Sunday story about Mackintosh Williams and his mom, Ester Campbell, prompted many to ask how to best assist the family with housing, employment and educational needs. Dozens wrote or called with offers of aid such as cash, more books and rent for a furnished apartment.

“Thank you for highlighting this bright young boy who is wise beyond his years,” one reader said in an email. “Is there a fund set up for him and his mother to help them get back on their feet? If not, what can interested readers do to help them?”

Jewish Family Services staff members met with Campbell this week and will oversee a fund on behalf of her and Mackintosh. He and his mom have been staying in a West Side shelter but spend much of their spare time at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s main Downtown site, where Mackintosh can feed his passion for science fiction.

Campbell’s struggle to recover from job loss, eviction and homelessness is familiar to too many families in central Ohio and throughout the nation, said June Gutterman, CEO of Jewish Family Services.

“This is the income divide,” she said. “This is the story of our economic world right now.”

Campbell, 32 and a former foster youth, said she’s overwhelmed by the interest and outreach. “I’m really, really appreciative and grateful,” she said. “And I know Mackintosh is as well. Everything’s a blessing.”

She and Mackintosh came to Columbus last month from New York City in hopes of connecting with a family member who had moved to the Midwest. They also had been in the shelter system in New York, where they were moved to a different site every 10 days.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than a quarter of all homeless families with children last year were in the state of New York.

Mackintosh, an “old soul” who loves nothing more than reading and reviewing books, had an especially hard time in the New York City system, Campbell said. “A lot of the kids are rough; they feel like they have to be,” she said. “Mackintosh is not like that.”

She and Mackintosh like Columbus and want to stay. She’s interviewing for jobs and hopes to find an apartment soon.

“The homeless epidemic is so bad,” Campbell said. “It’s so humbling that people here haven’t forgotten the forgotten.”

The fund is solely for the benefit of Mackintosh and his mom, Gutterman said. To donate by regular mail, make checks payable to Jewish Family Services and specify the Campbell/Mackintosh Williams fund in the memo. Send donations to Jewish Family Services, 1070 College Ave., Columbus, OH 43209. To contribute online, go to https://jfscolumbus.org/donate-now/tribute-donation/ and designate the “Campbell and Mackintosh Fund” on the form. Those with questions may call Jewish Family Services at 614-231-1890.