- Not as hugely generous as this story, but during his whole college professor career since the 70s, my father always took care that none of his students spent any major holidays alone and away from home, so we always ended up having 2 or 3 of them around for Christmas, the New Year, Easter...
They were from everywhere around the country and the world, and it was so very enriching for me and my siblings. I had a huge postage stamp collection from the ever increasing well wishing mail that arrived.
It's also kind of comforting to think that anywhere in the world you are not that far from someone that remembers you fondly.
- Crazy to see this story on the front page of the BBC and now Hacker News too! Ronnie was an awesome guy, and absolutely a part of Rob and Dianne's family, not a "maid" as another comment suggested.
- Here in Belgium there's a village that's famous for doing this. Currently there's about 100 people there who are living with another family. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gezinsverpleging_(Geel) If you translate you can read about it.
- When you read this story - your heart warms & your eyes gets filled. It is crazy nice feeling. You feel like this world is such a better place. Yet, it hurts - to know there are so many homeless that our system needs corrections.
- My parents once took a struggling man in. I think he stayed with them for about three years, up until the moment I was conceived and my mom started planning for a future for our family and helped him get into a housing project. For all of my life before adulthood this man would show up once in a while on his racing bike for coffee, talk and proceed to stay for dinner. He was kind, funny and a tidbit strange. His life's story had more drama than a soap opera, but you wouldn't know it. After my father died I proceeded to look for him, but never found him. I still search online for him once in a while, fully knowing he probably isn't alive anymore and probably wouldn't use online anyways. There is some story in my head that he probably showed up to my dads doorstep once on his racing bike to find other people living there, but was too shy to ask for details. A trace lost.
- My son has ASD, and non-verbal so far. No matter how I prepare for his future, I still have my fear about his well-being. I can only pray, when I died, hopefully, he can live happily and feel loved :'(
- I read stories like these and it inspires me to think a bit deeper about things. Recently I told a friend that a good compass in one’s life is to seek out what gives you a lump in your throat, the rest are just words. Merry Christmas friends.
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025sr0 has a bit more information in it, but its in a radio show with a bunch of other bits and pieces. From memory its in the last quarter of the show.
He has a really lovely welsh accent.
The other thing to do is they did this largely because its what they felt was the right thing to do.
by cogman10
10 subcomments
- Beautiful story but with a sad undertone.
A large percentage of the homeless have autism [1]. And that really sucks. If these people don't have support, their lives can turn miserable fast. And unfortunately it's just way too easy for these people to end up in abusive situations.
It's a lot of work to care for people with autism (moderate to severe). There is no standard for what they need, their capabilities can be all over the board. Some of them are capable like ronny in this story and they can hold down jobs. But others need 24/7 caregiving in order to survive. Unfortunately I don't think those with severe autism survive for long when they become homeless.
I hope this story at very least gets people to view the homeless a little differently. They aren't all there because of vices or failure. A large percentage are there because society does not care for those with mental disabilities. It was good on this story to highlight that Ron had problems with gambling. Autism does, in fact, make an individual more prone to various addictions.
My point in writing this, please have some humanity about the homeless. I get that they can be inconvenient. They are people and they aren't necessarily bad people due to their circumstances.
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29633853/
- It’s a lovely, wholesome, heartwarming story… but it also made me sad that there wasn’t something more reliable than incredibly-unlikely-serendipity to help this man (who as well as autism, had a difficult family background and may have been educationally subnormal [for want of a more 2025 phrase]) and ensure that he was at least safe and happy, and maybe even relatively productive.
by decafninja
1 subcomments
- My wife’s uncle took in a man into his home, gave him a room to live in, and a job as a cook at his restaurant. This man would otherwise have been homeless on the streets.
The man doesn’t seem to be fully mentally well, but apparently he does his job diligently, has no inclination towards being violent, doesn’t do drugs, and keeps his problems mostly to himself.
That said, he has an extreme gambling addiction (he blows all his paychecks at casinos) and having seen his room once, it looked and smelled like a biohazard disaster.
He seems like a poor fellow that had some bad luck and now lives to just gamble the rest of his life away.
I give my uncle in law huge respect for taking this guy in, and also my aunt in law for also putting up with him living in their home. I don’t think my wife or I could have done the same.
The two of them are workaholics though and their home is just a space for them to sleep between work shifts at their restaurant. Which is why I don’t think they care too much about this man’s room’s condition.
- I'm not crying! You're crying!
by peterspath
3 subcomments
- beautiful... kindness can go a long way :) we could all do better (and I point mostly at myself now)
by lazy_lumber
0 subcomment
- Well that's something I really liked reading from the BBC.
This give hope that humanity is still alive & not everyone is selfish like us.
- Unbelievable story in the best of ways. Three amazing people lucky to have each other in their lives.
- Glad this story got on HN, it moved the heart and I hope it spreads in the little openings of our lives. Nothings perfect, but day by day, more kindness and care, we can share https://youtu.be/wlpcFnOPH2k?si=C1Wa1cviJMa1zlYm
by spiritplumber
1 subcomments
- I did this for 3 years for two homeless women. Had to kick them out because I did not want meth in my home.
- A properly touching Christmas story. It’s made my day.
- Being on the spectrum myself, I can’t be thankful enough for the people I’ve met and supported me too.
This was a lovely and touching story to read, I wish the best to the Rob and Dianne of the world!
by keepamovin
0 subcomment
- The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze me. People are good.
by moondowner
5 subcomments
- > The homeless centre told them Ronnie needed an address to get a job, Rob said, but "to get an address, you need a job".
> "That's the Catch 22 that loads of homeless people are in."
Breaking this systemic barrier would make life easier on a lot of people.
- Ronnie led a rich life. I feel ashamed that my selfish life feels pale in comparison. It's amazing these people did not worry about the extra expense and inconvenience of taking care of another person, with children of their own to take care of.
by ignoramous
0 subcomment
- Reminds of this documentary of the Spring family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxCUOE6srI (20m)
Some seemingly ordinary people have superhuman ability.
by jeandejean
0 subcomment
- Damn that's some great Christmas story. Thanks for sharing
by perching_aix
0 subcomment
- Remarkable story. I'd not have had the kindness for this. I'm grateful people like them exist.
by 1123581321
0 subcomment
- That is lovely. Reminds me of Bruce taking in Neil for a shorter spell in the 7up documentaries.
- > one young UK couple's act of kindness 50 years ago changed their lives forever.
I like to think that their caring life did not really change, they were like that to begin with, they just missed a Ronni from it. : )
- Heart warming story. Thanks for sharing.
- I’m not crying, you’re crying.
by alanmoraes
0 subcomment
- What a lovely Christmas story!
- What a story!
- another fabulous story https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/homeless-man...
by eternalreturn
0 subcomment
- A cautionary tale.
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by sapphirebreeze
0 subcomment
- [dead]
by angelamerkel200
0 subcomment
- [flagged]
by reop2whiskey
6 subcomments
- [flagged]
by wewewedxfgdf
7 subcomments
- In England the advice is that the best thing you can do for homeless people is refer them to the correct social services, which has the resources and skills to deal with people who are often mentally damaged or unwell in some way.
The case of Aaron Barley triggered this after a lovely and caring family took in a homeless boy into their own home leading to a terrible situation in which he murdered two of the family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4elLA4FpnHQ
There's no way I'd let random people into my home - you absolutely do not know what might happen, what their history is, their mental state, their criminal background. Be kind in other ways.
- Since it is Christmas and we are talking about welcoming strangers in your house, I think we need to remember the story of the author of the most popular Christmas Carrol ("Carrol of the bells") - Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych.
His family was hosting a stranger in their house for the night in 1921. Stranger said he has nowhere to go, so they allowed him to stay in the room with Leontovych himself.
The stranger ended up being a Russia undercover checkist who killed Leontovych and robbed his family. [0]
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykola_Leontovych#Death
by dyauspitr
1 subcomments
- Since no one else is going to be cynical I will do it. This is a heartwarming story. However, it seems like that by taking this man in they got a live in maid along with an additional source of income. The fact that he is autistic and along with his disposition also probably made him feel “safe” to the husband around the women and girls in the house.
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