By Dan Murphy
In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who believed that people can turn their lives around and inspired many people to do good in their lives, we give you the story of Peter Hadley, to remind everyone of the importance of not giving up on people.
Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner recently interviewed Peter Hadley for his WVOX 1460 AM radio show, where he talked about the challenges in his life that he has overcome.
His biggest challenge was overcoming a horrific addiction to cocaine. Peter lost everything because of this addiction and had five overdoses. Peter admits he should have died a long time ago. The day that changed his life forever was when he just had enough and was resigned to the fact that he would be an addict forever.
Hadley tried to commit suicide by jumping into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, the drivers did not cooperate, and avoided hitting him. He blacked out and woke up in a psych ward. He was released four weeks later and was homeless.
Peter told me that everyone in his life had given up on him and he wound up in the Open Arms Shelter here in Westchester. It was a truly humbling experience and he needed to pick himself up and take his life back.
He started the path back by staying sober, day by day. After achieving sobriety, he wanted to leave the shelter, but ran into roadblocks; no real estate agent wanted to work with him and help him get an apartment because their payment would come from the Department of Social Services and they would have to wait for several weeks.
That experience made Peter vow to become a real estate agent one day so he could help other people like himself, who needed a second chance. Most people don’t understand how it is to be homeless, but more important, most of us don’t want to know what it is like to be homeless and may not be willing to inconvenience our busy lives and help someone who has earned it.
Peter Hadley is no longer homeless and is a real estate agent with Keller Williams. He first met Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner when he stopped by Town Hall with a woman who was about to be evicted from her apartment. He asked Feiner for help to find affordable housing for the woman and expressed frustration that it is so hard to find landlords willing to accept Section 8 certificates – even for people who work. It’s also difficult finding affordable housing in Westchester, period.
Peter and his partner have dedicated their lives to making a difference and help these families and individuals get out of the shelter. We are impressed by his passion and desire to help those less fortunate.
If you know of any landlord who is willing to accept Section 8 vouchers anywhere in Westchester, contact Peter Hadley at 914-338-3350. Think of how happy Dr. King would be if we could help the less fortunate.
Dr. King liked to quote this verse from the Bible: “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”
