Man Missing 20 Years Connects With Family Via You Tube

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Jeffrey Gottshall: S.F. Homeless Man Reconnects With Family in Pennsylvania Via YouTube

As far as Jeffrey Gottshall's family knew, he'd been missing for more than 20 years.

He left his home in Montoursville, Penn. when he was 20 and has been documented as a missing person by authorities in Pennsylvania. But 2,747 miles away in the bustling town of San Francisco, Gottshall is seen everyday.

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NearShot, the same local company that started the Homeless POV project last year, equipping homeless people with GoPro cameras, spent the Christmas holidays walking up and down Market Street, offering homeless people some tea and the chance to say a message to their loved ones via video. Kevin Adler, founder of NearShot, says he and one of his volunteers came across Gottshall who agreed to send a shout out to his family who he had not been in touch with for more than a decade.

Afterward, Adler posted the video to Facebook, and reached out to organizations and the Police Department in Montoursville, with some hope that Jeffrey's family might see it. They too posted the message from Gottshall on their Facebook page.

Little did Adler know that this Christmas video would become a life-changing moment for Gottshall and his long-lost family.

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http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2...nects-with-family-in-pennsylvania-via-youtube

And another link....

http://wnep.com/2014/12/26/family-gets-message-from-homeless-relative-living-across-country/

What NearShot is doing is amazing.

In the article it talks about donating money to send him home. I think his sister visiting him in SF would be a better idea. She could get them rooms next to each other, even connecting, but with a door lock. She has not seen him in 20 years. We don't know what his problems are and I assume their parents are deceased or too ill to be interviewed. Coming home means moving into her house. He may have more problems than she can handle. And SF has been his home. You or I would love to move home, but not everyone feels that way. And his medical needs and life skills needs may really interfere with her two kids. Be ecstatic but be cautious! This is a really neat program, though. Imagine how many missing people could be found this way. Everyone may not live as we would like, but imagine the burden lifted off a family's lives to know their loved one is alive!

I agree. IMO, She should find a halfway house for him first if possible. I am fairly certain he has substance abuse and/or mental health issues. Moving him into her home with her teens might not be the best thing for any of them. Him included.

But I do love this use of u-tube. Very cool to try and reconnect families. It just needs to be done cautiously.

The article said he has a substance abuse problem and that he is on parole. It also said he had to enter a substance abuse program if he goes back to his home state and that his parole would have to be transferred. I hope they pay his way home directly and don't give him the money for fear he would use it on drugs or other unwise things.

wendybtn said:

In the article it talks about donating money to send him home. I think his sister visiting him in SF would be a better idea. She could get them rooms next to each other, even connecting, but with a door lock. She has not seen him in 20 years. We don't know what his problems are and I assume their parents are deceased or too ill to be interviewed. Coming home means moving into her house. He may have more problems than she can handle. And SF has been his home. You or I would love to move home, but not everyone feels that way. And his medical needs and life skills needs may really interfere with her two kids. Be ecstatic but be cautious! This is a really neat program, though. Imagine how many missing people could be found this way. Everyone may not live as we would like, but imagine the burden lifted off a family's lives to know their loved one is alive!

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BBM. Exactly!