Small gesture, Huge impact

Homeless man, Ansley Park neighbors strike deal

Life looking up for man who lived under tree in Winn Park for 10 years

By MARK DAVIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

He lived under a tree at Winn Park. He’d been there a decade, long enough that people living near the Midtown park knew him — Jake Compton, the homeless guy in the sleeping bag.

He did the occasional odd job, accepted handouts. He was a reminder that life isn’t always easy, or fair.

For 10 years, Rodney Jacques Compton has slept in a sleeping bag in Winn Park in the Ansley Park neighborhood.

Compton has been working to clean the pond at Winn Park after being hired by the Ansley Park Neighborhood Association. He’s saved some money and may soon have a place to move into.

Jerry Attkisson worried about Compton. Was he warm enough? Did he have enough to eat?

In June, the 67-year-old retired real estate investor was tired of worrying. He approached Compton with a proposition: If Compton would distribute mulch around the park, Attkisson would pay him $2 for every pile the homeless man moved and spread out. Deal, said Compton.

That summer, a range of new hills spread across the park — 25 piles here, 50 there. It was as if a giant mole kept popping out of the ground, leaving huge mounds in its wake.

Attkisson kept his part of the bargain, regularly paying, “but it was getting kind of expensive.”

He wrote 200 other families who live near the park, asking if they would help create a fund that would beautify their park and get a man back on his feet. About 40 households responded with an average $100 donation — $4,000 in all. Compton worked through the rest of the year. The piles, and his savings, grew.

Now, Compton, 48, is helping clean the pond at Winn Park. He’s got a bank account, a cell phone, and his eye on a nice little place on Piedmont Avenue. He’s been on the street for 10 years, following “family problems.”

“I’ve met some nice people,” said Compton, who moved to Atlanta 33 years ago from Griffin. “Hopefully, things are looking up for me.”

These days, Attkisson and Compton occasionally dine together. They talk about books; “Same Kind Of Different As Me,” a novel about people from markedly different backgrounds, had a particular resonance. They talk about families, about a decade in a sleeping bag. They are linked by their park, their humanity. They are friends.

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This is what it's all about folks. You don't need to rearrange your life or sell everything you own. You don't even have to inconvenience yourself. All you have to do is be willing to open your eyes to see what's going on around you. This man's small gesture has made a huge impact not only on the life a homeless man, but on his community as a whole. In these financially trying times, no one expects for you to go broke trying to save the world ... so why not instead simply try to help improve the life of just one ... you'll be so surprised to see the ripple effect in your community.