Advertisement Change of heart for Omaha man who 'hated Muslims' John Dutcher said he hated Muslims after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Now he calls them his friends. Share Shares Copy Link Copy

John Dutcher will tell you what he thought of Muslims. "I hated Muslims, " Dutcher admitted. The Omaha man, who lives in a modest Millard apartment said the deep-seated hate came following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "There's a Mosque out here in Millard and I even thought about, how you hear people put bacon on their doors. That's how bad I was thinking," admitted Dutcher. But then something happened. Lutheran Family Services began placing refugee families in his apartment building. A Syrian family moved in across the hall. An Afghan family moved in downstairs. Six Muslim families live in his building. Dutcher is surrounded by the people he hated. "When they first moved in, I didn't know how to feel. I kinda had a hatred," Dutcher said. Dutcher, 61, said the Muslims moving in, moved him. "These two ladies came over and I felt compelled to offer my assistance. They don't speak English and I offered if they needed anything they can come knock on my door, and boy have they," said Dutcher. Dutcher's heart started softening. "It took this to wake me up." He noticed his new neighbors needed him and he needed them. Children's bicycles filled the hallways, instead of trash left behind by his previous drug addict neighbors. "Crack pipes and things like that, " he said. Children's laughter fills the building. "It's music to my ears and better than what was here before." Children knock on his door for help too. "They say, 'John, John, John, bicycle pump.'" Dutcher keeps the pump near the door to help his little neighbors. He's gotten to know his neighbors and learned of their struggles and why they needed to leave their own countries. "They didn't want to just come over here and get welfare. They come over here because they were forced to, " Dutcher said. "I'm sure none of them wanted to lose their jobs,lose their homes and like that over there." Dutcher, who voted for Trump, doesn't agree with the President's travel ban. "If you would have asked me before they moved in, I would have said.'oh yeah keep em out.' Until you get to know these people, they're amazing." Fatima Shah is a volunteer with Lutheran Family Services, who has placed 21 Syrian families with a total of 116 people in Omaha since October of 2015. She said the families living in Dutcher's apartment complex love having him around. "John looks out for them. If anything goes wrong, they call John," Shah said. She said when Dutcher confided in her his previous thoughts of hate, she was shocked. "He wants the people to understand who have this hatred, how to get over it, go get to the know them so you can understand what you really are hating," she said. "He preaches this to everyone, if you hate a Muslim, go get to know one." "They took that hatred out of me. I never knew how badly someone could hate to someone they don't even know, " Dutcher said tearfully.