We are happy to report that after our start up in early June, 2014 OTS-HB helped our first person off the streets on June 19, 2014. Kory was referred to us by a pastor from our church.

Kory had a job, 30 hours a week at a bit above minimum wage.  He had been working there for 7 months, but had been struggling financially since he had lost a previous shared rental with several people.  He had no car and no savings.  He desperately wanted to avoid sleeping outside whenever possible and spent most of his weekly salary on motels, when he was not able to talk a friend or coworker into letting him stay on their couch or floor for the night.  Kory was not eligible for any shelters in our area because he was sober, and not female, or a child.

We contacted him right away and set up a time to talk to him the next day.  We went over his finances and determined what he could afford to pay for rent given his current circumstance.  We talked about him asking for additional hours at his current job or trying to get a part-time grocery store job since he had had experience in this area before and it had a better long term potential.  Kory was to contact us again when he had checked with work and found a room rental in his price range.  He seemed encouraged to have a plan.

We didn’t hear back from Kory for about a week.  He called when he was rather desperate for a place to stay for the night.  We asked about the things he was to check out.  His work would not be able to give him any more hours.  He found a few rental possibilities and he was waiting to hear back from them.  We set up a meeting for the next day at a McDonald’s near his work.  Two of us met with him.  He told us how he had spent several hours trying to sleep in a park, praying for a better solution.  Finally an acquaintance of his called him (after urging from another friend to let Kory stay in his vehicle or on his couch for the night) and he was able to sleep inside the rest of the night.  He called the places he had tried earlier to see if he could get into a room.  No luck.  The best possibility turned out to be a shared room in a sober living facility, not what Kory needed, and not what he was told originally.  We had him look at craigslist while we were there and he called on several ads until he got one that was available to look at.  We were silently praying for God to intercede and He led us to a room in a home about 8 miles up the street Kory works on.  The family renting out the room showed him his room and the rest of the house he would have access to.  It seemed like a great fit for all concerned.  Kory was so relieved to have a place to call his own and to not have to worry about where he would lay his head each night. 

He will be putting a portion of his pay check each week into a savings account so that there will be adequate funds for his rent and bus pass the next month and some extra to start building an emergency fund so that this does not happen to him again.  He is very determined to stay housed and get more employment.  His long term goal is to have his own apartment and car.

Kory was so grateful for the second chance.  It was not just the monetary help, he said he could not believe that we were willing to spend so much time with him to help him.  We told him that he was experiencing God’s love.

We talked to Kory later that evening when he contacted us to thank us again and tell us how he got his room set up.  We could feel his satisfied smile through the phone line.