Courier Readers Reach Out To Homeless

Carol Riccardi never expected to have her heart broken by a 9-year-old boy.
Then she saw the photograph of a weeping John Carbone clutching his mother Lisa in last weeks story on homelessness in The Queens Courier.
"I saw the misery in his face and his mothers face and all I could think was Oh my God, I have a little boy too," said Riccardi, a Queens nurse and mother. "This could be happening to my family."
Like dozens of other families from Queens and across the City, Lisa Carbone, 34, became homeless last month. In Carbones case, it happened after her longtime landlord decided he would rather take over her apartment than renew her lease. Despite a full-time job, and another part-time stint as a cab driver, Carbone was out on the street, unable to find an affordable Queens apartment in a decent neighborhood.
"All I think about is earning a living and taking care of my kids," she said. "I never thought that things like this happen to people like me."
Riccardi was touched by the fact that before becoming homeless, Carbone, her son John and 16-year old daughter Theresa used to live in Richmond Hill.
"That was the neighborhood I grew up in," said Riccadi. "This family could have been neighbors of mine."
Riccardis sentiments soon turned into action. She telephoned the Courier and asked to be put in touch with Lisa Carbone.
"I wanted to do something, anything, to make a little bit of difference in the life of that family," she said. "Especially with Christmas right around the corner."
Last Saturday, the two women met for the first time, to talk about their children and the advent of Christmas, reminisce about the old neighborhood and just share the kind of hug that turns strangers into kin.
"Thank you so much, you will never know what this means to me and my family," said Carbone, as Riccardi handed her a small white envelope.
"It isnt much, said the benefactor. "I hope I can see you again before the holidays."
Riccardi isnt the only Courier reader who was touched by the story of the thousands of New York homeless families who are caught in the morass of the Citys shelter system.
GeAnna Moses, a legal assistant, has offered Carbone and her family use of part of the Jamaica home in which her elderly mother lives.
She said that Carbone can move in almost immediately and doesnt have to worry about paying a penny in rent until after the New Year.
"I have never been homeless, but I have some idea of what she is going through," said Moses. "I felt especially bad for her kids. Children should not have to live that way."
Carbone said she was thrilled to be offered the apartment.
"Its a nice place, nice and big," she said. "It needs a little bit of work, but I am just so grateful to have a place to call home again."