Marcos Aros was born in a coastal Chilean city whose name means “Going to Heaven.”
He says much of his heart remains back in Valparaiso. The rest of him resides at the Downtown Daily Bread men’s shelter, off North Third Street in Harrisburg.
At least for now.
Aros, 56, says he wound up homeless despite being a 16-year U.S. Army veteran. He speaks a dozen languages. His service with the 101st Airborne Brigade, 75th Battalion, Charlie Company focused on what he called ‘symbols in communication.’ He’s a master in the art of messages.
Now, he’s trying to get through to his two young daughters.
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After traveling the world, Aros ended up in the Harrisburg area so he could build stronger relationships with his girls, who live with their mom in Perry County.
Aros says he sees them whenever he can. Unfortunately, that isn’t very often.
“I wish I could visit my daughters every other week,” Aros said. “I saw them the week of July 4th. Then I saw them about a month ago. I am restricted to visit my daughters because of all of this. I didn’t have money to get a ride.”
Another hurdle Aros faces is his health. He’s a Type 2 diabetic, and his bout of homelessness has worsened his condition. On the streets, Aros says he’s forced to eat “whatever I can get.” Much of it isn’t healthy.
He’s on insulin and several other drugs. But his bad diet landed him in the hospital several months ago. His future looked dire.
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Now, Aros is receiving medical care and meds through the UPMC Harrisburg Street Medicine program. The three-member team makes weekly house calls at the Downtown Daily Bread shelter. Aros granted permission for a PennLive reporter and photographer to observe and document his most recent appointment.
The recovering alcoholic tells the doctor he’s down to the occasional beer. But Aros says he still smokes. His blood pressure comes in high. Dr. Michael Van Scoy writes him a new prescription for this. It will join the insulin and two diabetes drugs he’s taking.
RN Laura Lacroix has Aros remove his shoes and socks so she can examine his feet. They look pretty good, she says. Then Lacroix conducts a monofilament test. She instructs Aros to close his eyes as she lightly presses the thin filament on different parts of his feet and toes.
The test reveals Aros has lost feeling on the balls of both his feet. He still has sensation in his toes and heels. But to keep it, his diabetes mustn’t be allowed to get any worse.
Marcos Aros, 56, has his blood drawn by Laura Lacroix, R.N., who is with the UPMC Street Medicine Program, which holds office hours at Downtown Daily Bread in Harrisburg on Dec. 3, 2021. Aros is an Army veteran. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
Managing this chronic condition while living on the street has been a roller coaster for Aros.
“I will always be sleepy and tired when my blood sugar is low,” he said. “When it’s high, I get dizzy. I know the symptoms very well. If I don’t take care of that, I’ll be dead. I’d be in a diabetic coma. Not too good.”
Aros blames the COVID-19 pandemic for knocking him into homelessness – and setting him back in both his battle with diabetes and his ongoing efforts to remain in his daughters’ lives.
It was a quick succession of events. First went his job as a bi-lingual career adviser in Harrisburg. Then, he got evicted from his apartment, despite a federal ban on such actions during the COVID-19 crisis.
“I was literally evicted illegally,” he said. “They took all my stuff and put it in a garage.”
Afterward, Aros said he spent time in a shelter for veterans, but the housing was meant to be temporary. Before he wandered into Downtown Daily Bread last winter, Aros was sleeping among the dead at a Mount Holly Springs cemetery.
The biggest barrier to him securing a place is sky-high rents. Even with available aid through various veterans’ programs, Aros said the assistance lasts only so long. One must have his finances in order. Otherwise, the cycle of homelessness continues, he said.
“Housing is a huge issue,” he said. “We are the richest country in the word, and we have veterans and civilians being homeless. There shouldn’t be any homeless people in the U.S. Some people choose to be homeless. They like to be on the streets. Not me. Due to circumstance, I became homeless.”
Indeed, if someone had told him he’d be homeless, Aros said he “would not believe that person. I would’ve thought they were totally crazy.”
These days, Aros is working to reverse this situation. All of his efforts revolve around his gift for communication in multiple languages.
Aros is known as a “great communicator” at the Harrisburg men’s shelter. While many homeless people keep to themselves, he’s a social butterfly. Aros easily strikes up conversations with staff and those homeless individuals who are open to conversation.
“I am a social guy, but I don’t get involved with anybody,” he said.
It’s his girls — Camila Ann, 16, and Abbey Irene, 11 — whom Aros most wants to talk with. Until he can reunite in person, Aros spends time scrolling through scores of pictures of them on this smart phone. In the photos, dad and daughters are all smiles. Aros appears proud and happy. So do they.
Yet, his oldest daughter is angry, Aros says.
“She’s not happy with the government that a veteran guy like me is homeless. They’re worried about dad,” he said.
Aros is doing something about this, too.
He said he has a second interview in early January for a $40,000-a-year job working with a national real estate rental company in need of his multi-lingual skills to communicate with non-English-speaking tenants.
It sounds promising, Aros said. It would be the first step toward getting a place and seeing his girls every other week.
Aros is well versed in picking up the pieces and starting over. Back in Chile, he says he was the “black sheep” of his family.
“I was a badass teenager. I sell drugs,” he said.
Then at a church camp, a Presbyterian pastor posed a provocative question. He asked the young Aros where his soul would go.
The youngster didn’t hesitate. “Straight to hell,” Aros answered.
That’s when Aros began to change. His journey would lead him out of Chile, into the United States, the Army, two failed marriages and, finally, fatherhood.
“I got saved when I was 17,” he said. “That did a 180 on me. I became a good man.”
But he’s had a bad time of it, lately.
“My life’s been very complicated these last two years,” Aros said.
Hopefully, not for much longer.
“I’m focused on my daughters, my career and my situation,” Aros insisted. “I am clean and sober for seven years, a recovering alcoholic. That was my drug of choice: Heineken and red wine. It went good with a steak dinner.”
These days, he listens to the wise words of his mother, who’s still alive and well in Chile. She never left “heaven,” Aros said.
Mom’s advice to the one she calls her tall, dark and handsome son: “Pay attention to your career and give up the women!”
Aros said he plans to do just that. All except for two very special females – his daughters.
Marcos Aros, 56 looks at a photo of his daughters on his phone while at Downtown Daily Bread in Harrisburg on Dec. 3, 2021. Aros is an Army veteran. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
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