Along with other volunteers, he tended to those who stop by the Salvation Army's Harbor Light Center.

Volunteer nurses were present to administer free medical exams to visitors (who are almost always homeless, according to Leroy). Other volunteers instructed the guests in the center's rules.

Many come to the center because they are young and unemployed. Women occasionally arrive to seek shelter from domestic abuse, while children, turned out from home, seek refuge from the damp Friday night streets.

Harbor Light Center provides beds and clean linens and it also helps to provide meals.

Harbor Light's mission is difficult to fulfill, and its codes of conduct are strictly enforced.

But what is apparent is that it is trying to make a difference in its community.

Although I began the evening in search of a church, three choirs and a little history, by evening's end, I had discovered a shelter that was a compassionate outpost of humanity.

South End, like all of Boston, is experiencing growth and rebirth.

In its transition state, however, the community is not letting anyone be forgotten.

Without the staff of the Salvation Army, the South End would be missing a piece of its humanity.