A Bus Ticket Home

Operations Manager Antonio Tomlinson stands beside one of his Ambassadors.

“We are always on the lookout for people who need a hand up and we are sure to always be ready to offer it when the situation arises,” Outreach Ambassador Isaiah Henderson said.

Isaiah is on the Nashville Downtown Partnership (NDP) Outreach Team led by Operations Manager Antonio Tomlinson. In addition to offering general outreach services in Downtown Nashville, the team can also help individuals experiencing homelessness get back to warm, safe homes by providing them with free Greyhound bus tickets through a program called Homeward Bounds. Often, family members in other states are willing to take in their family who may be living on the streets, but they may not know where they are or have no way to get them home. Homeward Bounds fills in this gap.

Isaiah told us that on one particular day, Antonio was inundated with Homeward Bounds when a young couple with an infant came to request help.

“Right away we were captivated by the sheer amount of hard times this YOUNG family was going through,” Isaiah said.

Antonio immediately got to work on finding the family the tickets they needed to get to the woman’s mother in Houston, TX. After arranging their travel, Antonio went to check on them before they left the bus station, offering them comfort for their journey.

Operations Manager Antonio Tomlinson checked on the family before they took off for Texas.

“We don’t have to go check on anyone after they are given the ticket; 99.999% of them are never heard from again. But just before they leave, we go and check on them, to comfort them, and offer them a few words of encouragement before they’re off to begin their next step in life,” Isaiah said.

Isaiah is proud to be working with NDP alongside his teammates to help the community of Nashville and is always looking for ways to go beyond the call of duty.

“My boss steps up to the plate constantly, and that is the same way we were trained… Adam, Tasha, Antonio and myself, we were taught to go above and beyond,” he said.

While a bus ticket may not seem like a lot, for the people Antonio’s team helps, it can mean a way out of living on the streets and into a supportive family structure, and that can make all the difference.

“So yes, we get people bus tickets, but it is the act of kindness and gentleness that keeps us moving like a team that’s been working together for years,” Isaiah said.