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Written by: Kate Daly

My name is Kate Daly and I was the Admission Director at a place called St. Christopher’s Inn in Garrison, New York. It is a drug and alcohol rehab and a homeless shelter for men. I worked there for 13 years and over those years I have heard and seen wonderful acts of kindness, synchronicity and yes, downright acts of the angels. This is one of my favorite stories.

A young man arrived for admission and I went out to greet him. He looked dazed and somewhat overwhelmed, but this was not all that unusual on the first day at the rehab. I was prompted however to ask him if he was ok.

“I’m ok,” he said. “But you won’t believe how I got here!”

I invited him into my office and told him to sit down, take a breath and tell me what happened.

“Well, I was desperate for help with my addiction and someone told me about this place. I had very little money as I was kicked out of my house, but I had just enough to get to Albany. I got off the train and sat in the station worried and hopeless because I was only half way half way to the Inn. I stood there with nothing but my backpack and a look of despair on my face. As I pondered my next move an elderly gentleman came up to me and asked me if I was heading to St.Christopher’s Inn. I couldn’t believe he asked me that! How could he know? This man was a total stranger to me, someone I had never seen before! I told him I was headed there but had no more money. He smiled kindly at me and took me to the ticket window. He handed me some cash for the trains and bought me a ticket to Poughkeepsie on Amtrak. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and couldn’t believe this was happening. I turned from the window after receiving my tickets to thank this gentle, kind, mysterious old man, but he was nowhere to be found. I looked all over the station, but he just disappeared. Can you believe this?”

I smiled at this young man and told him I had a pretty good idea who this truly was. “Do you believe in angels?” I asked him.

His eyes filled with tears and we just looked at each other for a moment.

I stood up and hugged him.”Congratulations”, I said, “You just met yours.”