Tim Stanley
,
Stephen Pingry
After losing his wife and three children to a drunken driver, Allen Lynn found himself in a serious battle with anger.
“It tore me up,” he said. “I had so much anger and hate for that guy and people who do that. I still feel it sometimes.”
Eleven years since the tragedy, Lynn has come a long way in the healing process. But health problems that followed it — including multiple heart attacks and a double bypass — have made his life anything but simple.
Lynn is proud to still be standing, though. And he’s hopeful that he can be an inspiration to others down on their luck — especially those, like him, who are experiencing homelessness.
Lynn, who is currently staying at the Tulsa Day Center shelter, has been homeless for the past eight months.
And he’s among a growing number of Tulsans who depend on the center for shelter and other services.
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Through the first half of 2024, Tulsa Day Center received about 800 more visits — about a 17% increase — over the first half of last year.
Like other providers that serve the homeless, Day Center CEO Mack Haltom expected to see the increase.
“It’s not surprising,” Haltom said, indicating that this year’s Point in Time count, reporting 1,427 homeless individuals in Tulsa, a 26% increase over last year’s total of 1,133, gave them fair warning. Conducted over one night in January, the annual count of Tulsa’s homeless community is a strong indicator when homelessness is increasing across the area.
Allen Lynn pets Suzanne Stephens’ dog at the Tulsa Day Center on Friday. Lynn, who is staying at the shelter, has been homeless for the past eight months.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
With the increase in Day Center traffic, it’s proving to be accurate so far.
Through the end of June, the center had received 56,000 visits, at an average of 223 clients per day and 84 per night. The center had over 48,000 visits through June 2023.
A “visit” includes anyone who comes in for services, both first-time and repeat visitors.
The main driver of the increase, in Haltom’s view, still hasn’t changed.
“People get tired of me saying it,” he said of Tulsa’s lack of affordable housing. “But I’m going to keep saying it.”
“A lot of people are paying 50% to 60% of their income on rent, because rent is so high. And one little life change, like an automobile breaking down, or a health event or a mental health breakdown or something, can can throw them into homelessness pretty quick, for lack of a rent payment.”
The Day Center is not alone in seeing numbers rise.
Other providers that serve the homeless are also on pace for an increase in demand for the year.
Sarah Grounds, executive director of City Lights Foundation of Oklahoma, said, “As Mack mentioned, we expected it with the increase in the PIT count and with the struggles around housing and supports to maintain housing.”
Ashtin Raybourn, who’s been at the Tulsa Day Center shelter about three months, said her goal is to somehow get back to her nursing career after a freak accident resulted in a series of misfortunes.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
‘Bad timing’
Salvation Army Center of Hope officials say they’ve also had an uptick in traffic.
The shelter is currently on pace to provide 88,750 nights of shelter this year, a 4% increase over 2023.
Among their current residents, Amanda White and her three children have been homeless for about three weeks.
They are staying at the center as they try to figure out their next step.
White said it’s her first time being homeless.
As a mom, “it’s super hard,” she said.
“My car also broke down. The transmission went out. So really bad timing for everything.”
White said two of her children are autistic and she is unable to work because of the daily care one daughter requires.
“I try,” she said. “That’s all I can do. My kids come first.”
Amanda White and her daughters Mya and Autumn prepare to have a meal at the Tulsa Day Center as she figures out the next step during her first experience with homelessness.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
Back at the Day Center, Ashtin Raybourn is among the many residents hopeful that the assistance can help them put their lives back together.
She had a good thing going once as a travel nurse, Raybourn said.
But a year and a half ago, she was involved in a freak accident. The resulting head injury, which required several staples, was the beginning of a series of misfortunes.
Raybourn, who’s been at the shelter about three months, said her goal is to somehow get back to her nursing career. She loved the work, especially providing care to the elderly.
“All grandmas and grandpas need love and care,” she said.
But right now the shorter-term goal is to find housing, either in Tulsa or Joplin, where she lived previously. Then, she can focus on regaining her health and footing.
Through the end of June, the Tulsa Day Center had received 56,000 visits, at an average of 223 clients per day and 84 per night. The center had over 48,000 visits through June 2023.
Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World
‘There’s always hope’
Haltom and center employees hear stories like these all the time.
And with the increase in numbers expected to continue, they should only hear more of them.
Still, no one’s story is quite as tragic as Lynn’s.
Lynn said at the time he lost his family he was living in Indiana.
The accident with the drunken driver happened on a Christmas morning, he said. His children were ages 11, 7 and 5 at the time of their deaths, he said.
Since he arrived at the shelter, Lynn has picked up the nickname “uncle” from his fellow residents.
It’s a token of respect for his positive outlook and supportive words.
“I tell everyone ‘Don’t give up,” he said. “’There’s always hope on the other side. Look at me. Look at what I went through.’”
Lynn is working with a case manager to try to secure permanent housing. Then he can better focus on his heart and overall health.
“There are good people here,” Lynn said of the Day Center. “They really try to help.”
While every day now brings more and more people through the center’s front door, Haltom is focused on the positives in it.
“We look at it as an opportunity to make connections, to really get people connected to services,” Haltom said, adding that every time the door opens, that’s another person coming into the system.
“Whatever they come in for, once they are here, we can start working on solutions — on getting them off the streets, out of the shelters, into housing.
“We’re going to go full-bore ahead with this whole thing and keep doing what we can,” he added.
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Publish date : 2024-08-23 17:25:00
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