Working their way back

Lynn Spires and Paul Fred found love and stability at life’s bottom.

After 7 p.m. on a Wednesday in the Salvation Army lodge off 10th Street, they sat close on a donated couch near a Christmas tree.

They talked.

About love, about moving out of this facility, about their steady jobs, about dreams of a home, a car, about improved life.

“If anything happened between us, half of me would be gone,” Fred said.

He’s 56 and been homeless for two years. Fred sounded like cold weather and cigarettes when he talked. He still hasn’t quit, but Spires is working on him. He wore an insulated flannel shirt over a long-sleeved pearl button cotton top. When he took his hat off, Spires matted down the cowlick curl on his crown.

Donations to the Empty Stocking Fund help needy children with toys, and it helps men and women like Fred and Spires back on their feet.

“If we weren’t living here we’d be living out in the streets …” Spires said

“Under adverse conditions,” Fred said.

“Very adverse conditions,” Spires continued.

Now that they’re so close to a home of their own — maybe two months, they think — so close to the white wedding dress and suit and so close to steadiness, they plan on giving back as volunteers.

“There’s some hope,” Spires said, “and all I saw before was a treadmill.”

She wore eyeliner and a peach-colored sweatshirt over a collared shirt. She has red hair. She’s 51.

Their connection started in the parking lot on the other side of the lodge’s door. Fred pointed to it.

Spires came in a car with her 16-year-old daughter, who currently lives with friends.

“It’s one of those years you would have preferred not to have lived through,” Spires said.

Fred helped move Spires into a new year.

He was outside. He watched the car door open and the possessions come out. He picked them up.

They heard familiar accents. They sounded like home. They came from the same country, they found out, near Uvalde. Knew the same people, too.

Fred was smitten first. Maybe two days and he found his match.

Spires, looking for shelter not love, took a month or two to warm up.

Now it’s been more than a year.

Salvation Army Sgt. Jay Ward recommends his shelter users not to look for love here. Romance is nearly impossible with many inhabitants clawing at life, some at times scraping for a street-corner score or others escaping addiction and recovering.

But Ward sees something different in Spires and Fred, who sleep in separate rooms in the lodge. They’re stable. Neither have addiction problems. Both have jobs. Fred drives the Salvation Army’s truck. Spires works at Albertsons on 42nd Street. She takes the bus to work.

Wednesday, she received notice she’ll be eligible for health insurance through Albertsons. She hasn’t been eligible for health insurance through a job since 1995.

“It’s good hard-working folks that just need a little extra help to make their bills,” Ward said.

Spires’ daughter is learning to accept Fred, Spires said.

Together, the couple enjoys life. They support each other.

“With a combo of Lynn and God, it’s given me the determination that I’m going to be happy,” Fred said.

Fred gave her an engagement ring.

Cubic zirconium, Spires said, the stones aren’t real.

But the love is.

>> Donations to the Empty Stocking Fund may be mailed or delivered to the Salvation Army Community Center, 811 E. 10th St., or the Odessa American, 222 E. Fourth St. ZIP codes for both are 79761.

>> For information, call the OA at 333-7714, or the Salvation Army at 332-0738.

>> The Empty Stocking Fund was created by the Odessa American in 1995 and has raised more than $554,000.

>> Empty Stocking funds enable the Salvation Army to provide toys and food baskets to needy families.

>> This year’s goal is $62,500.