Bob McElroy is someone you may wish to meet, and hear from. He is the president and CEO of the Alpha Project, in San Diego. He and Alpha help the homeless. They are a “point of light” — so designated by Bush 41’s foundation in 1991. McElroy knew Bush well, and Bush was like a father to him.
Earlier this week, Bob McElroy and I recorded a podcast, a Q&A, here.
I had written about him in a piece from San Diego about homelessness — homelessness and those working to combat it. Here is an excerpt:
Bob McElroy is a larger-than-life figure. A onetime football player, he still looks like he could run through a brick wall. He is profane, canny, and huge-hearted. He could fend off a gang all by himself, and he hugs strangers.
When McElroy speaks of the residents here at the shelter, he says “we.” This is not noblesse oblige. He himself was homeless, and he has experienced it all . . .
In the course of a long conversation, I ask McElroy, “What makes people homeless? Is it ever separate from mental illness, alcoholism, or drug addiction?” He says, in essence, “It’s bad choice after bad choice: a cavalcade of bad choices.” And it may take a Herculean struggle to straighten out.
“We don’t give up on anybody,” says McElroy, though people may stumble and fall, time and time again. “God didn’t give up on me.”
Like you, I’m sure, I’ve met many people in the world, but I haven’t met too many like Bob, that I can tell you. Bill Buckley quoted a saying: “Ninety-nine of every hundred people in the world are interesting, and so is the hundredth, for he is the exception.” Bob is not the hundredth, that’s for sure.
Again, to hear our Q&A, go here.