His First Thanksgiving in Syracuse.

On Thanksgiving night in 1992, as families across Syracuse gathered around their tables, Glenn was a stranger in a new city. He had spent more than 12 years serving his country, and now he had nowhere to sleep.

Glenn grew up in Baltimore, one of five children in a military family. After high school, he joined the Army, threw himself into learning, and earned promotion after promotion over 12 and a half years of active duty, including service in Desert Storm.

But as his career grew, his marriage came apart, and his two young sons moved to Syracuse with their mother. Glenn left the Army in 1992 and traveled to Central New York to see his boys.

Someone downtown told him about the Rescue Mission, and that night, Glenn sat down to Thanksgiving dinner there. A staff member named Richard told him to come find him if he ever needed anything. Even so, Glenn went to sleep feeling discouraged and on his own. The next morning, he asked to see a case manager. “I was pretty much like, ‘What am I going to do?’” he said. She connected him with the VA and told him he didn’t have to stay where he was. He could keep moving forward, but it was up to him.

Within days, Glenn was working day-labor jobs. He soon landed a transport job at St. Joseph’s Hospital and saved enough to rent a room at the YMCA. With support from the VA, he later returned to the Army and served for many more years. In 1998, he met Kathy, who has been by his side for 28 years.

In 2013, Glenn heard that Team RWB, an organization for veterans, was serving a meal at the Rescue Mission. He felt called to pay it forward and return to the place that had given him a warm meal and a safe bed. He showed up, met the team, and kept coming back. Within a month, the team’s leader told Glenn she was stepping down and asked him to take over.

Team RWB has served at the Mission for 16 years, and Glenn has been part of it for 13. Today, he is an Eagle, one of the team’s leaders. On the third Sunday of each month, he serves meals in the same place that fed him on Thanksgiving night in 1992.

“I love doing this,” he said. “I have to keep my hands in something, giving back without expecting anything in return. It’s part of my calling.”

A couple of years ago, Glenn said, his life hit a particularly hard stretch. He thought about selling the house and leaving it all behind. Then he thought about his own father, who left when Glenn was only 11 years old. He stayed.

“I broke the cycle,” he said.

Today, he’s growing in his faith, coaching flag football, and still serving with Team RWB. When he thinks about the people who support the Rescue Mission, he knows their generosity reaches far beyond one person. “It feeds not only that person,” he said. “It feeds many. Their money isn’t just giving one person one meal. It’s feeding many people and giving people hope.”