Homeless in St. Petersburg: David Hawk and the kindness of strangers

David Hawk grew up in Columbus, Ohio, the eldest of five children. His father was a neurosurgeon and his mother was a teacher. There was always music playing in the house, Mary Poppins or Fiddler on the Roof. Sometimes they went to the theater.

“And mom would play the piano and sing. And there was singing and dancing around the house, and it was joy,” he says.

We’re sitting on the porch of his apartment at Hide Away Storage, 3950 34th Street South, where he’s lived for almost a year. If it weren’t for Virgil and Patty, Hide Away’s managers, David would still be living on the streets.

This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2010.