Habitation of Hope

The face of homelessness doesn't always have a tangled beard and tattered clothes.

Sometimes it has missing baby teeth and a smooth, unwrinkled complexion.

As much as they may blend in with their peers, more than 550 students in the Ector County Independent School District are classified as "homeless," a term encompassing anything from living on the streets to staying temporarily in somebody else's place.

With this in mind, a group of local Christians is on a mission to establish an Odessa chapter of Family Promise, a national nonprofit organization that provides homeless families with a springboard to help launch them back on their feet.

Local activist and Christian Randy McGuire said he began planning for the program about two years ago. Since then, momentum has increased and money has been raised.

At least nine local churches have signed on to participate, though McGuire said the coalition hopes to enlist 13 before the program gets off the ground.

"Many hands make light work," McGuire said. "It's so great to see these churches come together from so many denominations."

When implemented, the local program will include a day center, where as many as 14 homeless families at a time will find a shower and the assistance of a full-time social worker to help them find a job and a place to live. Each week, one of the participating churches will take its turn and give the families shelter for seven nights.

The location of the day center is undecided. The group bid on an old city fire station, but the coalition found out Tuesday that they didn't win the building.

"It's OK," McGuire said after Tuesday's announcement. "There's got to be a better place for us then. This is the thing, you just can't tell. We'll continue to pursue and follow up our options."

The good news, however, is that a local man donated three vans to the program in January, which was another big step toward the realization of the program.

"We need somebody to step forward and say, ‘Yes, I believe in family promise,' " McGuire said. "Or a group to step forward, like the man who donated the vans."

As a teacher at Odessa's Austin Montessori Magnet School, McGuire has spent years wrestling with some of his students' homelessness. But to him, homelessness is not just a number.

To him, homelessness stares at him through young eyes. It is a name on a math test. It is a look of uncertainty when school gets out and all the other children return to the lights glowing in their homes.

He said society's misconception about homelessness has trapped many of his homeless students and their families within a stereotype that leads to shame.

"They're not doing anything illegal, they are trying to live," McGuire said. "We're forcing them into an underground. I had an officer approach me with that, and I couldn't help. There was nothing I could do yet." 

"Yet" being the operative word there.

McGuire said the program's development has taken great strides in recent months. He hopes to make it a reality soon.

In the national program's history, he said, it successfully has helped 80 percent of its clients obtain steady work and a home of their own. He sees no reason why an Odessa chapter shouldn't have a comparable success rate.

He said the program will include services that no other organization in the area offers: a comprehensive program, complete with a full-time social worker and a daytime facility, that helps families regain their footing. 

"I've talked to people in town," McGuire said. "Nobody does this. But we're not reinventing the wheel. This is a tried-and-true program across the United States."

Despite stringent federal laws requiring school administrators to keep a close eye on their district's homeless students, Scott Randolph, an ECISD social worker, said the nebulous nature of homelessness makes it difficult to know exactly the extent of the problem.

"You get a lot of them who meet criteria, but they won't tell us they're homeless because they're ashamed," he said.

A program like Family Promise, however, will offer struggling families support that won't carry the same stigma as a homeless shelter, Randolph said, thus making it more appealing as a temporary place to stay.

"A lot of times we have a hard time convincing families to go to a shelter," he said. "We'll do everything we can, but they'll be reluctant. If there's a church where we can send them, I think they'd be a lot more willing to go there where there are caring people."

Sometimes exposure to a welcoming religious community offers its own motivation for homeless families, Randolph said.

In homeless shelters, families have few options for a proactive approach to their troubles, so they must sit and wait for change to come, he said, but with the Family Promise program, a caring group of individuals will provide families with the impetus and support network necessary for them get back on their feet.

"You can just put them in a room somewhere, but when they have somebody getting involved in their lives, once caring adults are there, the sky is the limit," Randolph said. "There's no saying what these families can do."

A local man donated three vans to the Odessa chapter of Family Promise, a program that provides help to the homeless.

Want to help?

>> Contact Randy McGuire at St. Andrew Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 432-367-8603.

Participating Churches

>> St. Andrew Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
>> First Presbyterian Church.
>> Crescent Park Baptist Church.
>> St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church.
>> St. Barnabas' Episcopal Church.
>> Redeemer Lutheran Church.
>> Life in Grace Lutheran.
>> First Christian Church.
>> Catholic Churches of South Odessa.