MARK STERKEL|ODESSA AMERICAN

Darian and Kimberly Dirolf have been in Odessa for about two and one-half weeks and are trying to find a way to get back to their home in Springfield, Mo. They have run out of money and haven't had a regular place to stay.

Homelessness survey set for Thursday

January 23, 2012 5:04 PM

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BY NATHANIEL MILLER

For Darian and Kimberly Dirolf, homelessness wasn’t what they were expecting.

Living in a makeshift residence in an alley on East Eighth Street with four other people, the married couple from Springfield, Mo., didn’t expect to find themselves in Odessa. In fact, they weren’t even expecting to stop in Texas.

“I’ve been working in construction for about 15 years,” Kimberly Dirolf said about the couple’s trip to Tucson, Ariz., for work.

On their way to The Grand Canyon State, Darian Dirolf said for an unknown reason, the two other men they were traveling with dragged him out of the vehicle and then assaulted him after he paid to fill the tank with gas in Pecos. Kimberly Dirolf said she got out of the vehicle and the two men left the couple stranded.

With only the clothes on their backs and a phone with a dead battery, Darian Dirolf said some people they made contact with in Pecos were able to get the couple bus tickets only as far as Odessa.

Since that day about two and a half weeks ago, the Dirolfs have been out on the streets begging for money and food, not knowing what they’ll get. Darian Dirolf said raising money for tickets back home, is difficult because they use whatever they make for food.

To their knowledge, their vehicle hasn’t been found. A spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Public Safety said troopers spoke to Darian Dirolf around 8 p.m. Dec. 31, but she was not sure on the status of the vehicle or the two men he claimed they were riding with.

The couple said they couldn’t walk to a shelter because they didn’t know where they were. Their lack of cold weather clothing and blankets when the weather drops below freezing sometimes keeps them from going out to find food.

“We’re all we have,” Darian Dirolf said.

Blankets, white socks, tote-bags, and winter clothing are just some of the items being asked for by the Odessa Homeless Coalition to hand out when they perform their Point-In-Time survey Thursday.

The group will meet at 6 a.m. at the Salvation Army and volunteers will head out with a 38-question survey to tally how many citizens in Odessa and Ector County are considered homeless.

In 2010, the Point-In-Time survey stated 104 people were homeless in Odessa at that time. The number was down from 151 people reported in 2009. Of the 104 people reported, 17 were children, although the survey did not give specific ages.

Norlene McBride, the board president of Odessa Links, said people who qualify as homeless aren’t just people like the Dirolfs who live on the street, but are also the ones who share a house with another family.

Odessa Links is a non-profit organization helps families and individuals seeking assistance by building a network that provides links to several community assistance programs.

“People see a homeless man walking down the street and think that’s it,” McBride said. “Through the survey, we see it has a different face.”

Even with the recent oil boom in the Permian Basin, McBride said the homeless numbers could be high due to the housing shortage.

“When we have a boom here, people can’t find a place to live,” she said.

Once the numbers are tallied from the survey, Program Development Director Erika Chavez said the final report is sent to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development via the Texas Homeless Network. The federal agency will then take the numbers into consideration when deciding how much money to award each state.

To make sure the survey is properly administered, Chavez said the organization welcomes all volunteers, and donations are still needed for the tote-bags that are passed out during the survey.

“Especially winter wear,” Chavez said.

The Dirolfs said they will continue to try to find a way home and are doing whatever it takes. Darian Dirolf said he would ask for help if he could, he just doesn’t know who to contact.

“If I could just call my dad,” he said looking at his dead phone, “this wouldn’t be so bad.”