Helping the Homeless Find Family Again

Reconnecting What Homelessness Has Broken

When someone experiences homelessness, it’s often not just housing that’s lost — it’s connection. Phone numbers disappear. Addresses change. Time stretches on. And relationships quietly fade. In Burlington, Vermont, a small group of volunteers is working to reverse that loss, one message at a time.

A Simple Idea With Powerful Impact

Each Tuesday at noon, volunteers from Miracle Messages set up inside Burlington’s COTS Daystation, offering something rare and deeply meaningful: help finding family.

Led locally by Nancy Harkins, the Burlington chapter gathers basic information from participants — names, fragments of memories, last known locations — anything that might help track down a loved one. From there, a team of volunteer researchers gets to work, combing through public records, genealogy databases, and social media.

Volunteers Fueled by Faith and Community

The Queen City chapter is run by members of College Street Congregational Church, who view the effort as both service and calling. Their work is rooted in the belief that dignity, belonging, and family matter — regardless of someone’s housing status.

The goal isn’t to force reunions, but to open doors. Sometimes, all it takes is the chance to ask a simple question that’s gone unspoken for years.

Stories That Stay With You

Since launching last summer, Miracle Messages has already made a profound impact in Burlington. Harkins recalls helping a man search for his birth mother. The message he wanted delivered wasn’t complicated or dramatic.

“It was just, ‘I’d like to get to know you. Would that be okay?’” she said.

Moments like that remind volunteers why the work matters. Behind every search is a person hoping to be seen, remembered, and welcomed back into someone’s life.