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“A balm for the soul”
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GOOD PEOPLE Book
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reunions

Joy

There are over 30 years between these amazing before-and-after photos.

"It's important for me for my photography to make people smile."

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

Before and after photos separated by 30 years.


Chris Porsz was tired of studying sociology.

As a university student in the 1970s, he found the talk of economics and statistics completely mind-numbing. So instead, he says, he roamed the streets of his hometown of Peterborough, England, with a camera in hand, snapping pictures of the people he met and listening to their stories. To him, it was a far better way to understand the world.

He always looked for the most eccentric people he could find, anyone who stood out from the crowd. Sometimes he'd snap a single picture of that person and walk away. Other times he'd have lengthy conversations with these strangers.


But eventually, life moved on and so did he. He fell out of love with photography. "Those pictures collected dust for 25 years," he says.

Then, a few years ago, Porsz found those 30- to 40-year-old photos and sent them to be printed in his local newspaper.

Peterborough, reunions, Chris Porsz

Chris Porsz and his camera.

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

And remarkably, people started recognizing much younger versions of themselves in his shots. "There was this lightbulb moment," he says of the first time someone wrote to him about one of his photos.

Eventually, he became curious about the people he'd photographed all those years ago, and he decided he'd try to find some of them. It wouldn't be easy — the photos were taken a long time ago, and Porsz didn't have names or contact information for many of the people in them.

But he did find some of them, sometimes in extraordinary ways. "Some were absolute million-to-one coincidences," he says.

Like the time he went out on a call (he's a parademic these days) at 3 a.m., and the man he was there to treat recognized him as the photographer who'd snapped his picture all those years ago. On another call, he asked a local shopkeeper if he recognized any of the subjects in the photos. He did.

Once Porsz began posting about the project online — he calls it "Reunions" — it became easier and easier to reconnect with his former subjects.

Many were eager to recreate the old shots as best they could, like Layla Gordon, who Porsz originally photographed drinking milk in 1983.

time, memories, photos

The child version drinking milk.

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

milk, history, project

The adult enjoys milk too.

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

Others groups, like these schoolgirls, had fallen out of touch. "Reunions," fittingly enough, brought them back together.

schoolgirls, pose, soul mate

Schoolgirls pose for a photo.

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

best friends, intimate, confidant

The adult versions find time for a group photo.

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

Porsz says that his subjects, like this wild-haired couple, were strangers to him 30 years ago. Now he considers many of them friends.

punk rock, narrative, archive

Pink colored hair and mohawks.

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

record, story, account

The color has moved to the sleeves.

All photos by Chris Porsz/REX/Shutterstock.

In all, Porsz has collected over 130 before-and-afters in his new book.

The response to Porsz's work has been more than he ever imagined.

He's personally heard from people all over the world who've been inspired by his project and want to try to recreate it themselves. But beyond that, he just hopes it brings a little warmth and happiness to the people who see it.

"It's important for me for my photography to make people smile," he says. "Because there is so much sadness in the world."

And while the project is finished for now, don't count out the possibility of "Reunions Part 2" somewhere down the line.

"I'd love to meet these guys in 2046 when I'm 94 years old," Porsz says.


This article originally appeared on 11.30.16

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This group found a simple way to get messages from homeless people to their families.

'I never realized I was homeless when I lost my home but only when I lost my family and friends to support me.'

Kevin Adler's uncle, Mark, was always a very family-oriented person.

He remembered everyone's birthday and gave thoughtful gifts. One year, he gave Kevin an eagle bandana because Adler means "eagle" in German.

Mark also had mental health problems throughout his life. He was schizophrenic and often in and out of homelessness.


Mark Adler. Photo via Kevin Adler/Miracle Messages, used with permission.

10 years after his death, Kevin and his father visited Mark's gravesite. It was Kevin's first time doing so. In fact, he didn't even known his uncle had one. Mark was estranged, but the family felt it was important "that he not be forgotten," as Kevin's father put it.

This got Kevin thinking about all the people without homes in the world (over 100 million according to the last attempted global survey) who either have a mental illness or are simply down on their luck and are disconnected from their families. Then, he thought about how easily he and his friends and family connect via social media — a power few homeless people are probably able to harness.

It wasn't until Kevin launched an art project for his church, however, that he found a way to change this.  

He wanted to show his fellow churchgoers what it was like to see the world through a homeless person's eyes.

Photo via Kevin Adler/Miracle Messages, used with permission.

It was called Homeless GoPro and involved homeless volunteers wearing GoPros to show what a day in their lives looked like.

While working with them, Kevin kept hearing iterations of this sentiment: ​"I never realized I was homeless when I lost my home but only when I lost my family and friends to support me."

That's when he realized he could do a great deal more for them using the same camera and his Facebook account. He could record their stories and send them out on social media to help try and find their families.

He would end up calling the project Miracle Messages.

“That’s my daughter. I love her. And for Father’s Day she actually gave me a foot imprint. But I have a good friend who...

Posted by Miracle Messages on Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Kevin decided to test out his idea in San Francisco around Christmas in 2014.

He walked down Market Street and asked every homeless person he came across if they'd like to leave a holiday video message for a loved one.

That's when he met Jeffrey.

Kevin with Jeffrey on Market Street. Photo via Kevin Adler/Miracle Messages, used with permission.

"I started talking to him," said Kevin. "He was a little bit out of it, but once I asked him about his family, he got incredibly lucid. He looked me right in the eye and said, 'I haven’t seen my family in a long time.'"

It had been 22 years.

Kevin asked him if he'd like to record a video message for his sister and father (the family Jeffrey remembered) that Kevin would then use to try and locate them. He said "yes," and Kevin obliged.

That night, Kevin went on an internet search for Jeffrey's family. He found a group on Facebook associated with Jeffrey's hometown in Pennsylvania and sent them a message asking if they wouldn't mind sharing the video. They agreed, and within minutes, comments from locals started pouring in. After 20 minutes, his sister was tagged.  

On Christmas Eve, Kevin got on the phone with Jeffrey's sister and learned that Jeffrey had actually been a missing person for 12 years. Three weeks later, Jeffrey's hometown ended up raising $5,000 to bring him home and rehabilitate him.

The reconciliation felt too good to be true. Kevin was able to change Jeffrey's life with his simple idea.

Eager to help more people, Kevin took his messaging service to St. Anthony's Foundation in downtown San Francisco.

Johnny at St. Anthony's in San Francisco. Photo via Miracle Messages, used with permission.

St. Anthony's has been serving food to the homeless since 1950. At first it seemed like no one was interested, but then, just as he was leaving, one man named Johnny took him up on his request to record a message.

He hadn't seen his family in 33 years and had been listed as missing person for 20. Kevin followed the same procedure he had enacted in Jeffrey's case, and within three weeks, all four of Johnny's brothers and sisters got on a plane to San Francisco with their families and reunited with Johnny in person.

According to Kevin, while he was in the hotel room with them all, Johnny looked at him and said, "Thank you for giving me my family back."

Out of the 45 video messages sent by volunteers at Miracle Messages, there have been nearly 20 reunions.

Perry's reunion with his son, Joseph. Image via Miracle Messages/YouTube.

Eight of those 20 have led to stable housing.

But the organization has much bigger plans.

Their goal is to reunite 1% of the world’s homeless population — that’s over 1 million people — by 2021. That may seem lofty, but considering how much they've already accomplished, it's not impossible.

Over 5,000 people have already reached out wanting to start chapters of Miracle Messages in their own communities.

There are still a few kinks to work out, like having a clear model for how to get consent, record, and upload videos to the proper channels, but people are motivated. These reunions are making so many lives better, homeless and non-homeless alike. The more people who can be brought back to their families, the more people will find their way home.

If you'd like to help this volunteer-based organization, you can donate to their site and learn more about volunteering here.

Norwood Thomas is a 93-year-old veteran who fought in World War II. During the war, he met a girl.

Shortly before parachuting into Normandy with the 101st Airborne, Thomas met Joyce Durant along the River Thames.

She was "a pretty little thing," Thomas recalled to The Virginian-Pilot.


Joyce Durant. Photo via The Daily Share/YouTube.

Thomas and Durant fell in love. To this day, he remembers her laugh and can even recite her old mailing address from memory — it was the address to which he sent letters and gifts shortly after the war.

Thomas would have married her, he says. But fate had other plans.

Before long, time, distance, and the war drove them apart. Thomas moved to North Carolina and got married to "a good woman," he recalls, "who helped my mixed-up head get straight."

Norwood Thomas as a soldier in World War II. Photo via The Daily Share/YouTube.

But ... he always thought about the one that got away.

Joyce, it turned out, hadn't stopped thinking about him either.

She, like Thomas, got married after they lost touch. She goes by Joyce Morris now and lives in Australia. One day, while her son was fixing her computer, she asked if it was possible to "find people on that thing."

After 70 years apart, it only took a couple of Google searches for the war-time lovebirds to be reunited over Skype.

Photo via The Daily Share/YouTube.

Morris told Thomas that she still has a picture of him that she says "good morning" to every day.

"Just remember," Thomas replied, "that I will say 'good morning' back to you."

The power of technology to bring people together is truly amazing.

As their story quickly spread around the Internet, people have raised over $7,000 in donations to fund an in-person reunion for the couple.

Photo via The Daily Share/YouTube.

Stories like this are a reminder of just how far technology can evolve in a lifetime. It wasn't that long ago that if you lost touch with someone, it was unlikely you'd ever hear from them again — especially if they lived on a different continent.

Thanks to the power of the information age and the donations of over 300 strangers, one of the most romantic reunions of the century is about to take place.

Air New Zealand also stepped up to send Thomas and his son to Australia, where he and Joyce Morris will spend Valentine's Day together.

What's that? No, I'm not crying. I just have something in my eye. Eyes. Both eyes.