Cloverdale ex-addict now advocates for homeless

When the homeless need an advocate in northern Sonoma County, 57-year old Richard Cafferata is their go-to guy. He is the one they call at 4 a.m. when the river is flooding their campsite. He is the one they call because they trust him.

It has not always been that way. Seven years ago, after what he describes as a 41-year love affair with meth, Cafferata had given up hope. His weight had plummeted to 100 pounds and he was living outside on a bench.

In and out of numerous drug rehab programs, including seven in-house programs, he still could not stop using and did not think anything would work.

Determined to end his life by jumping off the Fulton overpass, he first stopped by Spring Hills Church to ask God to take care of his three daughters.

As he walked towards the overpass, a car pulled alongside. It was the family of his youngest daughter’s best friend. They had seen him at church and sensed he needed help.

Despite his being dirty and stinky, they insisted he come home and stay with them for a month. After that, another local couple, longtime friends, invited him to stay with them for six months. By the second day, they asked if he was going to a recovery meeting.

“Fellowship Hall. I wasn’t having a thing to do with it,” he recalled, “but God guided me there and I started working the program. It was the same stuff people tried to say in 1985, but it didn’t click then. I started following the program and things started working.”

After six months, Cafferata was on the street again but found a bed at Wallace House, Cloverdale’s homeless shelter. A few months later, he moved into transitional housing and started working as the house manager.

“This was huge,” he said. “They entrusted me with a key to the office. I started feeling like maybe I could change, like maybe I had a chance.”

A serious health issue requiring surgery kept him hospitalized for 38 days, but Wallace House held his job and bed.

“Knowing I had someplace to go when I got out of the hospital made all the difference,” he said.

Cafferata eventually got into housing at Cloverdale’s Cherry Creek Village, an affordable senior living complex and soon, with assistance from a local Realtor, into a brand new apartment he could share with his youngest daughter.

As Cloverdale’s official homeless count declined, Cafferata was hired by North Sonoma Community Services in Healdsburg, where he currently works part-time as their homeless outreach coordinator. He also serves on the County’s Continuum of Care Board for Homelessness.

“I’ve had so many good jobs but lost them all because of drugs,” he said. “At one point, I was making $123K a year but couldn’t keep a bank account, and I lost my family. My daughters wanted nothing to do with me for years.

“Now I’m making the least amount of money I’ve ever made and yet I’m richer than I’ve ever been. I have this life I never imagined before. I love my life today.”

Working with the chronically homeless, he helps them fill out paperwork, make and keep needed medical appointments, apply for qualifying services and provides transportation in the NSCS van. He tries to get them off the streets and into suitable housing. While calling it the hardest job he has ever done, Cafferata said the reward is watching people regain hope and start believing in themselves again.

“I’ve often wondered why God kept me alive when people have been shot and killed right next to me,” he said. “Now I know.”