The Homeless being assisted by Okaloosa Walton Homeless Continuum of Care


	Crestview and Walton County
	Crestview and Walton County Success Stories
	Okaloosa County
	Jason's Story
	It is not often that we see families in the cold night shelter. Most of the time they take refuge in a car, or a friend’s back porch, or an abandoned building: somewhere they can find minimal warmth, and a sense of security. They live in the shadows, so that they and their children won’t fall prey to the predators who feed on distress. But Jason finally reached the point where he had nowhere else to go. He came, with his six children ages 11 months to 12 years, to the cold night program at Seventh Day Adventist a month ago. Jason has made mistakes in his life, and many of the problems he faces today were of his own making years ago. However, there is one thing Jason does very well indeed: he is a dedicated and wonderful father to his six children. These children have won the hearts of every staff member, volunteer, and social worker they have come near. They are remarkably polite, clean, well-behaved, and bright. Those who are in school are A students. But what stands out is their love for their father and each other. They support, protect, and help one another. Jason is humbled by his children’s faith in him, and determined to make a better life. He was raised in a series of foster care homes, and is doing everything in his power to keep them together, healthy and happy. His parenting style is not to sweat the small stuff, but devote his energies to the big stuff of survival and preparation for the future. He has become organized out of necessity. Each night, all the children bathe and put on clean clothes, which they wear to bed. While they are sleeping, he washes the dirty clothes in the hotel bathtub. He gets the kids off to school, drops the baby off with our volunteer extraordinaire Lydia Barton, then goes off to work (this latter part of the system ends this week when the baby starts child care). Since Christmas, Jason has been working at a $13 an hour job. He has applied for and is receiving food stamps. For three weeks, the family lived in a one-room hotel room paid for by a series of churches. On February 1, with the help of Bridgeway Center, Opportunity, Inc., and four churches, he moved into a three-bedroom apartment. He is determined that he will go the rest of the way on his own. Still, it would be nice if the children had beds, and clothes, and school supplies to tide them over for the short period of time it will take for Jason to truly make the transition to self-sufficiency.
	Georgia's Story
	Georgia is one of the phantom people who makes our lives easier and more pleasant, but whose own life is difficult. Now in her mid-50s, Georgia has been working in the Destin tourist industry for the past nine years. She knows that when tourism drops off in the winter, she can expect to be laid off for a couple of months, and she plans for that. This year, however, the restaurants got an early hit, and she was laid off in October. She has been talking to her primary employer, past employers, and potential employers, and is now unsure of getting work before March. Meanwhile, in an early indicator of a coming recession, she didn’t make as much in tips while she was working, so had less saved up than before. Georgia’s children grew up and moved out of state years ago, and she hasn’t asked them for help. She says they, too, are struggling in the current economy, and have children on their own to raise. She hasn’t been eager to ask others for help, either, but she is months behind on the rent, her utilities have been cut off, her car insurance has lapsed, and with it, her driver’s license, and her pantry and refrigerator are empty. The only bill she keeps current is her phone bill, since she needs it to look for jobs and hopefully take messages from an employer ready to bring her back on board. Right now Georgia is checking the job boards at the Workforce Development Board, putting out resumes at every hotel and restaurant, and hoping that today will be the day she gets back to work. Her age is against her, as it is hard for women in their 50s to get work even in a good economy. But she keeps trying. Georgia is another person who needs help for just a little while, in order to maintain the toehold she has on a sheltered life. If she loses what little perch she has, the chances of getting out of homelessness become grim. Being evicted means that other landlords are less happy about bringing you in, deposits for utilities and apartments are astronomical, and without a place to store food, you have to shop every day, often at convenience stores since they are closer to the places homeless people without transportation live. Sadly, we don’t have the resources at Opportunity, Inc. to give Georgia the help she needs. Too many other people are calling every day also, and we are barely providing band-aids for as many as we can. But we are still looking, and we still have hope. So does Georgia.
	Donna's Story
	Donna is used to abuse. She was abused by her father, then her husband, and finally her mother. She was staying with her mother after fleeing her husband last November, trying to get the pieces of her life back together. However, when her mother, who suffers from mental illness, threatened the safety of Donna’s three boys, she knew she had to run again. Her mother locked them out, denying Donna access to her wallet, her car, the children’s clothes, everything. Donna was not used to homelessness. It started raining, and she had no idea where to go. By the time she made her way to a church in Crestview, she and the boys had been out in the woods near Baker without food for three days, during the rainy period that brought 23 inches of rain to the area. Fortunately, the church secretary had heard of Opportunity, Inc., and called our office. We arranged for a week at a hotel on Highway 90, and had food and clothes over to the family within an hour. Using a multitude of resources, and the great kindness of Progressive Management of America, we had the family in an apartment by the end of the week at the hotel. Prior to her horrific episode of homelessness, Donna had worked in retail, and was able to get back to work once she had moved into the apartment, specifically chosen by Progressive Management to be near her job site. The boys’ elementary school principal was an incredible resource, and brought pizza and tutoring help. Progressive Management even waived two months of rent so that Donna could give the boys a real Christmas. It is often pre-mature to assume that a family that has been in trouble will stay that way after only three months. There are so many obstacles to keeping your head above water once you have been pulled under the waves. But Donna was only homeless for a few days, and that in itself is a good predictor of a successful outcome. Like cancer, homelessness is best cured if the treatment starts early. Donna and her children are finding their security within themselves, and that is the one source of security that they can depend upon.
	Maria's Story
	Maria is an Hispanic mother of two. Her husband was recruited by the construction agencies after Hurricane Ivan, and brought her over while he was working 12 hours a day repairing roofs. Eventually jobs dried up, and he moved on searching for work. Maria hasn't heard from him for awhile, and doesn't know where to turn. Maria is trying to do what she can. She has been trying to learn English, and has enough language skills to keep her job at a fast-food restaurant. She has found housing at the Fort Walton Beach Public Housing Authority, but even that is hard to maintain on 30 hours a week at minimum wage. She needs mental health care treatment, job training, and English instruction. Her children need day care. She wants to do well, but her skills are limited.
	Katie's Story
	A single mother and three children, who have no shelter, transportation, food or clothes - and when we got the call yesterday, the mother hadn't eaten in two and a half days. This family was referred by a local association, who got them two nights stay in a hotel, and contacted us at check-out time on the second day. We paid the hotel manager for another 5 days, and have gotten clothes and food to them. We are looking for housing, mainstream benefits (temporary aid to needy children, child care, job placement), and anything else we can find. Just this little bit has cost us about $500 alone, which is all we can possibly afford, so they can stay sheltered while we try to address permanent needs - and a week isn't much time to find housing and get benefits started and find a job and get transportation and all the rest.
	Mary's Story
	A 20-year old woman works at a fast-food restaurant full time at minimum wage. When her roommate left for a better job in a larger city, Mary could not longer meet the rent. For four months, she has lived in a vacant lot, hiding among bushes and tall grasses.
	Success Stories Rob's Story Rob is an 18-year-old boy who spent the last three years as a homeless youth. His mother and stepfather were arrested in 2003 on charges of drug sales and possession, and Rob was sent to North Carolina to live with his father. It wasn’t long before his father was arrested for child abuse. Rob wanted to come back to Okaloosa County, which he associated with friends and some stability; the state of North Carolina wanted to put him in foster care. Since Rob’s grandmother lived in the Florida Panhandle, North Carolina officials agreed to let him stay with her if she agreed to take him. Although Rob and his grandmother didn’t get along, Rob asked her to write a letter saying that she would let him move in with her. Rob promised that in return, he would hop off the bus in Fort Walton Beach and never so much as give her a call. She agreed, wrote the letter, and Rob came back. Full Story >> Jessica's Story Earlier today I had lunch with a girl, “Jessica,” who could easily have been one of my daughters. Jessica is in her early-30s, with clear eyes and smooth skin. She was attractively dressed, and has an easy smile that flashes often and brightly. She was raised in a home similar to mine: middle to upper-middle class, strong family values, emphasis on education. Words like “drugs” and “addiction” and “jail” were bits of a foreign vocabulary, having nothing to do with her. Full Story >> James's Story James is a prominent businessman, director of a company he founded and brought to success. It’s been 20 years since he lived on the streets, but at times those years are as real to him as though they were happening now. James was a newly minted college graduate, with a job lined up with a social services agency months before he finished school. Up until then, he had led a middle class life, and raised to believe he had an obligation to help those less fortunate than himself. He intended to put in his time as a social worker for a few years, the way other young men and women would join the Peace Corps. Full Story >>


Okaloosa Walton Homeless Continuum Care / Opportunity, Inc.
Opportunity, Inc. (Admin Office) 203 Cloverdale Boulevard, Suite B Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547 Phone: (850) 409-3070 Fax: (850) 409-3071 info@okaloosawaltonhomeless.org	Opportunity Place 305 Lovejoy Road Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548 Phone: (850) 659-3190 Fax: (850) 659-3191