By the time Tom Medhurst was 7 years old, he slept in an old station wagon with his parents and three older siblings that they considered home.

His mother was a house wife who suffered from depression and anger; his father was a functioning alcoholic and banker by profession, who frequently changed jobs, which caused the family to move around.

“I do not possess the words to adequately describe to you the feelings associated with homelessness, but I believe for most that the embarrassment is overwhelming, the questions of self worth are paralyzing and the feeling of being negatively judged by others constantly is a relentless dark cloud,” Medhurst said to an audience of more than 400 people during the Reach Out organization’s annual fundraiser at the Christian Faith Center in Federal Way on Tuesday morning.

Event organizers hoped to raise $60,000 during the event to benefit Reach Out’s homeless winter shelters for men and women.

After a period of time living in parking lots, eating in soup kitchens, bathing in gas station restrooms and lying in school about where he lived, Medhurst said an extraordinary person became aware of his situation. His fourth grade teacher Edith Robinson invited the family to live in her 28-foot trailer on her property.

Medhurst said that simple comforts, such as taking a shower and sleeping in a safe place, “had never been so well received.” His teacher taught him to believe in himself, kept him connected to school and taught him the difference between being a victim and survivor.

He said because of the influence and guidance he received from his teacher and others throughout his life, he has been blessed with “modest achievements.” He is currently the president and CEO of L&L Supply, Inc., he is chair of Federal Way’s Planning Commission, serves on the FUSION (Friends United to Shelter the Indigent, Oppressed and Needy) board and is a husband, father and grandfather.

These achievements have taught him some important lessons — that few people are successful without other’s help and the responsibility of paying it forward.

“I’m not sure that any of the people who lifted me up in my lifetime could have ever appreciated the lasting affect that it had on me,” Medhurst said. “And I’m confident that we will seldom know what a profound affect we will have on others through simple acts of generosity and kindness.”

During the event, NBA Hall of Fame player and former Seattle SuperSonics coach Lenny Wilkens spoke about his own struggles growing up.

His widowed mother, a strong Roman Catholic woman, often took his family to a public clinic because she did not have health insurance.

“I felt like I could read their faces, they were saying ,’Uh oh, here comes the Wilkens again,’” he recalled. “But certainly it instilled in me that I always wanted to do something better, always wanted to reach out and try and help somebody else.”

Now, Wilkens is involved in the Lenny Wilkens Foundation, which supports healthcare and education for all children.

Sports fans in the audience eager to hear about Wilkens’s basketball background also had the opportunity to ask Wilkens questions, including how the Seahawks compare to the SuperSonics.

“Well, the Sonics were better,” he said to thunderous laughter. “There’s a lot of comparisons because both teams had young players, both teams captured the imaginations of the city and the fans … Believe me, I’m a Seahawks fan so I watched them and I was all excited about it because I thought it was great for them to be able to win a championship like that and hopefully they can do it again.”

Reach Out officials also recognized two residents during the event as Pay it Forward Honorees. Janice Clare Olson has coordinated weekly community suppers at Calvary Lutheran Church for over 20 years. She was a key contact for hosting the Reach Out program and meal service when the organization opened its men’s shelter in 2009.

Reach Out honored Tyler Lum for his impact and support of the organization’s Rollermania fundraiser. As a Decatur High School student, Lum helped recruit other teens to participate, making 2014 the most successful Rollermania ever.

For more information about Reach Out, visit reachoutfederalway.org or call Nancy Jaenicke at 253-973-1962.