Providing hope to the homeless

Heather Noyes struggles for the right words.

Her nine-year-old son, Patrick, finds them.

“She just wants to be normal,” Patrick said. “I hate being in a place where I feel homeless.”

Noyes and her son have lived at the Salvation Army Center of Hope for four weeks.

“I needed a place to stay and was tired of sleeping in my car,” Noyes said. “I’m kind of scared right now.”

Noyes recently lost her manicurist job. She starts cosmetology school in November.

“I really hate being in this situation,” Noyes said.

She and Patrick want to be in a home by Christmas.

“I hope to be able to take care of him comfortably,” Noyes said. “I don’t want to be rich. I just don’t want to be poor.”

The city’s homeless Central Virginia Homeless and Housing Coalition’s 2010 point-in-time count found 167 homeless in Lynchburg on Jan. 28, 2010.

More than 60 percent of these have been homeless before, according to the report.

The report reveals 157 Lynchburg students were homeless.

“Lynchburg schools have reported more homeless,” vice president of community impact for United Way of Central Virginia Joan Phelps said.

Phelps said the 2010 number is low.

“The shelters right now have been pretty full,” Phelps said. “The shelters are seeing people that have not had to use a shelter before.”

Phelps said shelters house more people when the temperature drops.

“I’m sure the economy has a lot to do with it,” Phelps said. “The utility bills are skyrocketing. It’s one thing after the next.”

Salvation Army kitchen manager Carol Kirby said the organization, which provides breakfast and dinner, is serving new people all the time.

“We are seeing a lot more families coming through here,” Kirby said. “People have to make choices — do they buy groceries or do they pay their electric bill.”

‘I never thought I’d be homeless’

Ren Smith prays for compassion each day.

Smith, who directs Salvation Army’s women’s shelter, relates to the homeless that pass through.

“I never thought I’d be homeless,” Smith said. “There’s no difference between anyone that comes through these doors.”

Smith had a tough bout with diabetes and lost her job and insurance.

“God had a plan for my life,” Smith said.

After staying at a shelter four months, Salvation Army offered Smith a job. She worked her way up, taking over the women’s shelter 18 months ago.

“I can see my whole life that God has taken every job and where I’ve been to prepare me for where I’m at,” Smith said.

James Stanley, assistant director of the men’s program, said the men are looking for “a place to call home.”

“It’s not the end of the road because they are here,” Stanley said.

Stanley said the shelter houses 20 to 25 men. During the winter, the shelter often accommodates up to 47, with men sleeping on pallets to escape the cold.

‘It humbled me a lot’

Mary Brown has lived out of a bag since coming to the Salvation Army on May 17.

“It was so awful not leaving stuff, but familiar things,” Brown said. “I have a life in a bag, and it’s awful.”

A Bedford County native, Brown was out of work for the first time since 1977.

Brown had to apply for jobs on the computer and struggled to find work.

“It humbled me a lot,” Brown said. “I just hate not being able to do it. It’s really embarrassing and really insulting to have to practically turn over a stone to get a job.”

Brown has a job and plans to move into a home.

“I just like a tree and a porch so I can drink my coffee and my grandchildren can come if they want to,” Brown said.

Brown is thankful for the shelter.

“It’s a resting place. I slept forever,” Brown said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I didn’t even know I was tired.”

Brown describes homelessness as “not being a whole person.”

“We all lost a lot of pride and self-esteem,” Brown said. “You can’t get that back.”

Brown is uneasy about leaving the shelter.

“I guess it gives some meaning to the phrase, ‘Home is where the heart is,’” Brown said.

‘I’m a street person’

Larry Moses fidgets in his chair, laughing nervously as he talks.

“There are more people in the world worse off than I am,” Moses, 49, said. “They are starving with no shirt on their back.”

Moses often stops by Daily Bread, Lynchburg’s food kitcen which serves free lunch 365 days a year.

Weekend manager Jo-Ann Johnson gave Moses a pair of shoes. Moses, who wears a size nine, was tromping around in size 12 tennis shoes.

He carefully placed the new shoes in his backpack, telling Johnson he wanted to clean his feet before trying them on.

Moses always finds a dry place to lay his head.

“I’ve done slept in boxcars, everything,” Moses said. “I’m a street person. I like it outside.”

Moses, clad in a camouflage jacket and orange hat, calls himself an “active person.”

“I don’t need no one to feel sorry for me,” Moses said. “I’ll do anything I can for somebody.”

Moses said he feels confined indoors.

“I’m down to earth. It don’t bother me,” Moses said. “I’ve always been a street person and I always will be.”

‘I do this for my heart’

Johnson knows if something is bothering a client.

“I can read it and know that something is going on with them,” Johnson said.

She laughs and talks with those who come for a meal. As clients look through a box of snacks, Johnson asks if they are looking for something special.

“I thought I was going to have to go back and start baking,” Johnson said, bringing a smile to the clients.

Johnson has worked at Daily Bread, which serves 150 lunches a day, 17 years.

“I’ll be here until I’m too old to come through that door,” Johnson said.

‘Real relationships’

Senior Josh Davies often volunteers at Daily Bread and Salvation Army.

Davies, whose mom died when he was in high school, said he was close to being homeless.

“I know the need to feel family outside of the family. When I go home, I stay with church family,” Davies said. “That’s why I have a heart to befriend someone with no other motives.”

Davies has seen first-hand the “hard situations” the homeless are in.

“When we see homeless people and we see them from the outside, we think if they wanted to succeed they could,” Davies said. “People rarely choose to live this way.”

Parker is a news reporter.