Indy man goes from living in a cardboard box to ministering to the homeless

Bobby Hayden Jr. knows what it's like to be homeless, adrift from family and friends, swallowed up by drugs and despair.

Nearly a decade lost to the streets of Los Angeles.

But before that, he lived the high life, performing on MTV and in concerts with his own band around the country. Hanging out with Ozzy Osbourne and his band.

Today, Hayden is 61 and co-founder of Cardboard Box Ministries. He lives in Indianapolis, sharing a home with a couple of roommates and paying the bills by teaching guitar lessons and relaunching his music career. He's been clean for eight years, but he carries a reminder of his addiction. Needle marks run the length of his lower legs and arms. He's not afraid to show them to a stranger.

Those scars are a hook he uses to draw people in to listen to his story.

That story begins when he was a boy growing up in Evansville. "I was a little miniature Frank Sinatra. That's what my momma and daddy wanted me to be."

A prodigy, they called him. He performed at the Grand Ole Opry and on "The Milton Berle Show."

"Then the Beatles took off and I said, 'That's what I want to be.' "

He ran away at 16 and started playing in rock bands, eventually making his way to Hollywood in the late 1970s. Like so many, his professional success came at a cost. He abused alcohol, cocaine and heroin, and by the year 2000, he found himself living in a cardboard box in Los Angeles.

His music career was dead. He panhandled at Lakers games and other events to feed his addictions.

"I got real good at it," he said. "The worse I looked, the more I made." His take was anywhere from $40 to $100 a day, he said. All of it went for drugs.

Hayden might still be there if not for what he considers divine intervention in the form of people sent his way to lead him back to family in Indiana. To a life of purpose.

"When you're broken, the Holy Spirit has a way of bringing someone to you who can lift you up," he said over coffee recently.

One of those people was a bakery owner in LA who looked out for Hayden. His last name was Esperanza, which means hope. And hope is what he gave the struggling addict, who eventually found a home with friends, completed a treatment program and moved back to Indiana.

As Hayden found his footing again musically and spiritually, he met a young college student in Indiana who would help him see his purpose. In fact, they would help each other.

Lexi Laconi came to Hayden for guitar lessons. An IU student at the time, the Carmel resident says now she had no purpose, no vision for her life. She felt empty inside, she said.

Fast forward a few years, and the two are a team, running the day-to-day operations of Cardboard Box Ministries, speaking and entertaining at homeless shelters, churches, prisons and schools nationwide.

With support from Operation Care International, an outreach ministry based in Dallas, they are planning a Christmas party for the homeless and others in need of assistance in Indianapolis. The Dec. 19 Christmas Gift Indianapolis event will be at the Biltwell Event Center, 950 S. White River Pkwy., West Drive.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., guests will be invited to the center for  a spaghetti dinner, music and haircuts. They'll get new shoes and socks, courtesy of Samaritan's Feet and Finish Line, and they'll have a chance to call loved ones. Veterans also  will be honored.

Anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 people are expected to attend, the organizers say. Shelters and other organizations will be working to provide transportation. In Dallas last year, a similar party attracted more than 10,000 people to the Dallas Convention Center.

How to help warm someone's heart this holiday season

It may seem like a huge undertaking for the two founders of Cardboard Box Ministries, but they have found people eager to be a part of what they hope will be an annual event.

Aside from the 1,000 pairs of donated socks and shoes, support is coming from Jeanette Sawi, owner of the Biltwell and Santorini's Greek Restaurant; Hoaglin Catering; Delco Foods; and DL Lowry Salon. Students from Cathedral, Brebeuf and Carmel high schools are collecting coats and blankets and will be volunteering at the event.

"It's about unity," Laconi said. "Our heart is truly to take all these organizations, secular and nonsecular, and bring them together and do something good for the least of these in our community. Let's have a party and let these people be our guests of honor. We want to give them hope."

Meanwhile, she needs donations of coats, blankets, toys, hats and scarves, gloves, sleeping bags and personal care items. Donations can be dropped off at the Biltwell from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. most days.

Hayden, a father of three and grandfather, understands that some may be skeptical of his story and of his new-found calling, but he doesn't hold back. He grew up as an entertainer, with a big personality to match.

"I'm just a guy this happened to," he said. "If it wasn't me, I wouldn't believe it. Jesus, said 'What you do for the least of these, you do for me.' It's a command to go out and do this."

Call Star reporter Maureen Gilmer at (317) 444-6879. Follow her on Twitter: @MaureenCGilmer.

Christmas Gift Indianapolis

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 19.

Where: Biltwell Event Center, 950 S. White River Pkwy., West Drive.

Contact: (317) 324-8805, www.christmasgiftindianapolis.org or cardboardboxministries.org.