Point of Despair; Points of Hope

At the end of each January, a dedicated and talented team of volunteers works together to get an accurate sense of who is homeless in Okaloosa and Walton Counties. This year they found kids, lots and lots of kids. They crowd my dreams.

The point-in-time survey starts with service providers, who use census count tools rather than sign-in sheets for the specified time. The census tools allow us to check for non-duplication. We then download the data in our databanks at the office and through HMIS,and check those to see how many clients are still actively homeless. We request surveys from community stakeholders accessing different demographic groups, ones that those of us at Opportunity, Inc. are unlikely to come across. One such source is the school district; another is the list of people being discharged from jail to homelessness. Finally, on the last weekend of January, we head outdoors and count the people who do not come to our door or call for help.

Generally, we go with law enforcement for these runs, but there are times when having a law enforcement officer may impact the count we get. This year in Destin an extremely pleasant and capable young man took me to all the homeless haunts, every one of which was deserted. That evening I came back and skulked in my car as I counted them going into the abandoned buildings on 98, the fishing cottages without water or electricity, and the woods, counting one by one, putting down whatever I could detect - male, female, approximatey age and race. These all looked like chronically homeless to me.

At the end of the count, this year, it was the kids that shot up in numbers. Most of these were members of briefly homeless families, who then became perilously housed. Such families call us, or we find them, the day they become homeless, or a few days later. Becoming homelessness is devastating, and families find themselves doing things they never believed they would. Mom moves with one kid over to her mom's. Dad lives with his brother. The two other kids go live with an aunt. At any moment, the situation can crack apart, and the cycle start again.

Meanwhile, a family is broken, and who only knows when or if it comes together again. What has often been a strong and supportive family group can be crushed under the stress and strain. In the worst case scenarios,the kids go to live in foster care, and the parents live separately on the street.

But, there are always those families that somehow manage to thrive when the hits start raining down. They are the ones who take the writing on the wall seriously - which is often a notice of eviction placed on the wall itself. They cling to the job no matter how few the hours have become, or they find a part-time job making beds, but they keep something together. They start calling for resources, and, since they still have some form of employment, they may be lucky enough to get a place at FRESH Start, or Catholic Charities when they have funds for rent, or Lydia on a day when her network is buzzing with hope and help.

People ask us for success stories. We are immersed in them. We have provided options to domestic violence victims who can finally leave their abusers, now that freedom from abuse doesn't equate to homelessness. A formerly homeless mother of two has an excellent position running a food services program for a local not-for-profit, and is fully self-sufficient. A young man, who once worked construction in the morning and fast food in the afternoon, now works as a cook in a "real restaurant" and is proudly awaiting his parents' visit. The only thing we did was give him a place to take a shower between jobs, and a lot of encouraging words. From there, it was all him, but no one can be more grateful.

One of the single dads we work with is a constant favorite, a bedtime story of happily ever after made better because it is true. A young man, broken by the foster care system he survived, became an alcoholic, a drug user, and a father of six children. His wife got arrested for the drugs they both did, and Hurricane Ivan wiped out his home and job. But instead of despair, hope kicked in, and John came to us. That was two years ago. Today his house is one of the cleanest in Fort Walton Beach. The children are happy, loving, clean and beautifully behaved. John is a success at a well-paying job, and the kids are flourishing in school. They will be moving into their very own four-bedroom house over the summer.

Still, when it comes to the end of the day, you remember the staggering number of children who are homeless in our area (which coincidentally is the exact same ratio as that mentioned by President Obama at his press conference - one in every 50) and you wonder how this can happen. So many kids, robbed of their trust in the world, their hope, their future.

Go to the point-in-time survey on the http://www.okaloosawaltonhomeless.org, and look at the numbers, and focus on those kids - or the veterans - or whatever group you care most about.

It will cause you to feel the first tentacles of despair. Run right away - come help us, and let us help you light the candles of hope. For the kids.