A former homeless man-turned restaurant manager will have more money for his four children now that he does not have to pay his energy bills for an entire year.
Inertia Resources in Boston will cover Katarian “KT” Andrews’ energy bills for one year — the most recent example of several essential relief efforts that Andrews has received during his life.
Andrews was surprised with the news Tuesday, Feb. 25, at Sal’s Pizza on Tremont Street, which is the same pizza shop that Andrews used to sleep outside of when he was homeless.
“Right now, I kind of live paycheck to paycheck, so that will really help me out a lot in terms of saving money,” the father told reporters at Sal’s Pizza Tuesday.
“I’m grateful. I can’t really put it into words right now how I feel. I’m very emotional about it. On the way here today, I cried a lot because I never thought nobody would honor me in this way,” Andrews said. “It means a lot that people actually care about me because for a long time I thought nobody cared about me in this world.”
One of five children, Andrews was born in 1988 in Boston to parents who were both drug addicts. He recalled going to sleep hungry several times because there wasn’t enough food in his house and his mother was selling the family’s food stamps to get money to buy drugs. Andrews’ mother kicked him out of the house at age 13. He was homeless until age 28.
“At a very young age, I had to learn how to be an adult,” Andrews said. “I never really got to have a childhood. I had a lot of pressure on me since a young age.”
During this time, Andrews became a father and started selling illegal substances to support his child. He was eventually arrested for possession and distribution of drugs and spent 90 days in jail. After his arrest, Andrews realized he needed to turn his life around.
So, Andrews got his GED and enrolled in several food service training programs that led him to take several jobs in the restaurant industry. While seeking help from the non-profit and homeless shelter St. Francis House, Andrews was accepted into the organization’s Moving Ahead Program (MAP). The program prepares participants for a return to work in 14 weeks.
Last April, Andrews was hired as a store manager at Sal’s Pizza after graduating from the program.
“St. Francis House, they’ve been very instrumental, and I’m just happy,” Andrews said. “I hope that I can be an inspiration to others who want to change their life and become great because we can all do it. We just have to want the desire to succeed.”
The Lupoli family, who owns several Sal’s Pizza locations, also helped Andrews with housing in their loft apartments in Lawrence by waiving his initial financial requirements. Now the company that Andrews considers to be his family is continuing to take care of his needs.
“These people are definitely my family. They take care of me in ways that I can’t express right now,” Andrews said. “I just want to thank the Lupoli family and St. Francis House for giving me an opportunity and taking a chance on me when everybody counted me out.”
In addition to Inertia Resources covering Andrews’ energy bills for a year, Lupoli matched up to $10,000 in donations to St. Francis House so that the non-profit can keep helping more individuals have a success story similar to Andrews.
