Standing outside a Worth Heights convenience store Thursday night, Fort Worth resident Darren Richie spoke freely about his life story, sharing both the good and the bad with strangers he just met.
Richie, 59, has been homeless for about five months.
He wasn’t able to pay rent on his apartment after losing his job, and multiple disabilities now prevent him from keeping permanent employment, he said.
“I never thought I would be out here being homeless because I was on time. I had plenty of money,” Richie said. “It’s my first time ever, just really just being in the streets.”
Richie was one of several people interviewed by social workers and volunteers during Tarrant County’s annual Point in Time Count on Jan. 22. Organized by Partnership Home, the lead agency in the county’s homelessness response, the federally mandated count is designed to take a snapshot of the number of people and families experiencing homelessness on a single night in January.
The census is taken during the last 10 days of January, intentionally on a cold night when people experiencing homelessness may be more inclined to seek shelter. But this year, weather was a bigger focus than usual as the region braces for below-freezing temperatures through the weekend.
Volunteers handed out beanies and hand warmers as they met people throughout the evening, letting them know about the impending winter storm and available emergency shelters across the city.
Members of east Fort Worth’s DRC Solutions asked Richie and others experiencing homelessness for demographic information: name, age, gender, race and veteran status. They also asked those they met where they had lived before and why they were experiencing homelessness.
The questions are optional. Richie had the choice to only answer prompts when he felt comfortable sharing. Others encountered during the night declined to share their demographic information, saying it didn’t feel worthwhile, but anonymously shared their personal stories with volunteers.
Richie felt willing to speak vulnerably that night because homelessness can impact anyone, he said.
Still, he acknowledged that it’s difficult to be candid as he teared up talking about his children.
Richie’s 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son have been staying with his mother-in-law since he was evicted from his apartment, he said. His voice cracked as he shared that he hadn’t seen them in months.
While data collected during the count serves as a “historical look” back on people experiencing homelessness and can help advocate for federal funding, other data gathered by the group helps guide decisions on how to help Tarrant County families in need, said Lauren King, CEO of Partnership Home.
Partnership Home’s various assessments aim to better understand and meet the needs of individuals based on their circumstances and what barriers they face when trying to find housing, she added.
“Anything that might be a barrier to housing that a case manager needs to understand to help them figure out how to get out of homelessness, that assessment better tells you kind of what clients need,” King said.
The count draws hundreds of volunteers in Tarrant and Parker counties who group up with police to survey an officer’s patrol area and look for people who may be experiencing homelessness.
Sporting hiking boots and a backpack full of hygiene kits, hand warmers and other supplies, Fort Worth resident Margo Allen led a group of three other volunteers with a police officer through the West 7th Street area.
Allen has helped with the count for a decade. Between her job working as a registered nurse and serving warm food during Broadway Baptist Church’s Agape Meal, she encounters a lot of people experiencing homelessness. Participating in the count each year speaks to both her professional and personal life because they are all “God’s beloved children,” she said.
“If we aren’t showing up and being good to people who need advocacy and justice and compassion, then my faith is useless to me,” Allen said. “That’s how Jesus lived his life and hung out with people who weren’t just the fancy people.”
In Allen’s group was Spencer Maxwell who was volunteering for the count for the first time. He said he wanted to participate to “learn more about my community.”
“I just wanted to see things that I haven’t seen before and understand what goes on, kind of under my nose, that I’m not familiar with, that people are experiencing in my community,” Maxwell said after encountering two individuals near the Cultural District.
Across town in Worth Heights, Tony Wilson said the count’s greatest value is community engagement and education. Wilson is the executive director of DRC Solutions, whose staff conducts daily outreach to people experiencing homelessness.
“Volunteers that never have to see how our neighbors live on the streets, going out there and seeing it firsthand can help dispel some of these myths and stereotypes that we often see,” Wilson said.
At about 7 p.m., Wilson’s group encountered Israel Guajardo, 30, sitting cross-legged in the grass. He spoke softly as he stoked the small campfire warming up his dinner.
Accepting hand warmers from a group, he said he’d probably spend the weekend at his campsite despite the inclement weather. Little things like the warmers can be a lifeline, he said.
“Just giving out money or food or clothes helps,” Guajardo said. “Everything helps.”
Maria Crane is a multimedia journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at maria.crane@fortworthreport.org.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
