Joe Roberts recalls his opiate withdrawal three days before Christmas in 1989. He was 23 and had been homeless for several years on the east side of downtown Vancouver. Rocking back and forth on a park bench, he needed $10 to make the pain and symptoms go away.

“I walked into a pub across the street, and I sold the only item I had left in the world that was worth any money – that was the boots on my feet,” said Roberts, the keynote speaker for Friday’s Transforming Lives Breakfast fundraiser hosted by Lynnwood-based Clothes for Kids. “I’ll never forget that feeling of despair and hopelessness when my foot touched the concrete sidewalk.”

The next day, Roberts was given a pair of shoes and a call to his mother. “I asked for a second chance,” Roberts said. “She flew out to Vancouver…and she scooped me up. I remember she gave me that mom hug, kiss me on the cheek.”

They flew back to Ontario where Roberts – who is now a motivational speaker, author and youth homelessness advocate – underwent six months of drug rehabilitation. After that, he attended and graduated from Loyalist College with honors in business and marketing. In the early 2000s, he founded Mindware Design Communications, becoming the CEO of a leading Vancouver multimedia development company.

Roberts said the first eight years of his life was like the sitcom Leave It to Beaver, even though his family did not own a lot of things. He would wear the same clothes to school almost everyday.

“I never felt poor,” he said. “I got my brother’s hand-me-downs. He was three years older. We got at Christmas one big gift, but most of it was clothes. [My] mom didn’t have much money. We got an outfit in September, and we got our church clothes for Sunday. I never felt like we did without because we had this connectedness as family,” he said.

After his father died from heart failure in 1975 at age 35, Roberts’ mother remarried. His stepfather was a violent and abusive alcoholic. “I went from this dad who would say things like ‘I love you son’ to a man who say things like ‘You’re stupid, you’re dumb, and you’ll never amount to anything’,” Roberts said. “And I was 8 years old, his words hurt more than his hand. And I began to believe his story.”

Later, his older brother and his friends asked Roberts to join them and experiment with drugs. “I didn’t do it because I thought it would be cool or fun or curious about substance,” he said. “I did it because I wanted to fit. I’ve shared this message with over a million young people all over Canada, United States and beyond, and I asked them a question: ‘Have you ever done something to compromise your value system in order to fit in?’ And it’s such a heavy question because that’s what it was for me. I wanted to fit. I wanted to belong so bad.”

After Roberts got kicked out of school at age 16 and got in trouble with the legal system at age 17, he moved to Vancouver during the 1986 World’s Fair, hoping to get a job and a fresh start in his life. But he ended on the streets with a shopping cart, collecting cans and bottles to support drug dependency.

In early 2016, Robert founded Push for Change to raise awareness and funds to combat youth homelessness. By pushing a modified shopping cart across Canada – from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Vancouver –  Roberts aimed to spark conversations and promote solutions to prevent youth homelessness. The journey took 17 months and 11,375,000 steps over 5,625 miles, ending at the Vancouver Public Library on Sept. 29, 2017. 

Roberts said that he and his team had to engage with law enforcement, the government, philanthropists and hundreds of stakeholders and communities to support Push for Change. He added that he chose to speak at the Clothes for Kids event because the cause is “close to my heart.”

“Some kids come from tough environments and not all childhoods are created equally,” Roberts said. “But I think that it’s incumbent upon us as leaders to do the very best we can to make sure that every kid has a fair shot growing up safely transitioning into an adult.”

Friday’s Clothes for Kids breakfast served as a fundraiser for the more than 5,000 students in Snohomish County who will need school wardrobes during the 2024-2025 school year.

Clothes for Kids Executive Director Cassie Morey said that the nonprofit serves an average of 48 clients a day. Each child gets to pick 26 new or gently used pieces of clothing and accessories, which costs about $100 per child.

“Since Aug. 5, we have seen 3,202 clients,” Morey said. “That’s a big number. [That’s] $320,200 since Aug. 5.” 

Morey said that this year’s funding goals are up 15% due to the 20% increase in students served.

For the 2023-24 fiscal year, Clothes for Kids provided 5,365 students with 16,095 shirts, 26,825 pairs of socks, 16,095 pairs of pants and 5,365 coats – and matching pairs of shoes. The nonprofit has a dedicated volunteer group that cleans, sorts and hangs the clothes in the store, which is set up like a retail store but without a cash register.

Morey said that many of the children who come to Clothes for Kids get to choose their clothes for the first time. “Clothes for Kids are giving children the dignity of choice,” she said. “Some of them have been wearing the same clothes for years and years.”

Morey also said that Roberts was chosen to be the keynote speaker because of his deep connection to giving back and supporting human services. “His Push to Change organization is proof of this,” she said. “His message of resilience and empathy we felt would connect with our community of donors, volunteers and supporters. With the advice from myself, the board collectively decided to have Joe as our speaker.”

Clothes for Kids is a nonprofit organization supplying clothing and shoes to students from low-income households in Snohomish County. Established in 1984 by Sharie Ennis, a PTA member at an elementary school in the Edmonds School District, the organization began in a classroom in Lynnwood and later relocated to its current storefront close to Meadowdale High School.

“Selling my boots was a turning point…and was my [rock] bottom,” Roberts said. “I was tired of the pain of living on the streets and finally mustered the courage to change. I believe selling my boots was my bottom. Oftentimes I think about who I would be today if I didn’t have those people who loved me where I was at, who gave me dignity and a sliver of hope that one day I could change my life.”

Learn more about Clothes for Kids and donate here.

— Story and photos by Nick Ng