Regina Brewer, a Sinclair Community College student, was one of ten women honored by the Dayton Daily News in 2010, for her role in making an impact in the Miami Valley.
“I got the call from Dayton Daily News, and I was in a state of disbelief,” she said. “I thought one of my friends was playing a prank on me. Once I verified the number and couldn’t catch the voice, I asked, ‘what is the award for?’ After finding out what the award was for, I cried.”
A couple months ago, while working as a home health aide, Brewer said she had seen a lady who was pregnant with two small kids across the street. She said the woman was pacing. And she kept pacing back and forth. Brewer then crossed the street and asked if the woman needed help.
“She did and she told me she was looking for Apple Street,” Brewer said. “I didn’t realize that we were two seconds away from Apple Street. So, I pulled out my phone and I tried to figure out where this place was. Not going into details, the woman told me that she had been kicked out of her home. After finding the directions, I realized she was looking for St. Vincent De Paul. So, I piled all of her children in my car and we went searching for St. Vincent De Paul.”
Once Brewer arrived at St. Vincent, what she saw astonished her.
“It was so many homeless people out there,” she said “Some were standing around, some were laying in the street, some were in the back sleeping, some were in sleeping bags and some were in tents,” she said. “And I just thought something has to give, I have to do something.”
Brewer said she then went around to every person who was at St. Vincent that day, and began to talk and listen to all those who would answer her questions. What she found out was that many of them had a story to tell.
After leaving St. Vincent De Paul, Brewer said she knew “this is what I wanted to do.” Her plan, she said, was for her and her three children to take paper lunches to St. Vincent, in the back where the park was and hand the lunches out on a weekly or monthly basis.
“We would pass out food, toiletries, and clothes from the back of my van, ” she said. “It became contagious after that and then my church got involved, I was able to not only provide for the people but also witness.”
That day, when the phone rang, Brewer sat there and through her tears, she listened as Denise Miles, event coordinator for the Dayton Daily News explained to her why she was being nominated for the award.
A woman by the name of Cyndia Henderson, who lived in the back of St. Vincent De Paul, in a tent, nominated Brewer for the award. Henderson nominated Brewer because of Brewer’s desire to serve others.
Through Brewer’s community outreach, Henderson was inspired to go back to school and get her G.E.D, Brewer said.
While Brewer said she was and is still excited about the award, her love of helping others is something she said she feels “compelled to do.”
“I think with the times and the economy being so hard, we all have to come together, she said. “We all have to come together and be a family because in the end, we will need each other.”