Nestled in the center of the West End district of Tuscaloosa sit five small wooden duplexes. From a distance, they look to be nothing more than shacks; up close, though, these small residences have been transformed into a row of comfortable homes. Outside, a hand-painted sign decorated with handprints reads, “Welcome to the Jesus Way Shelter.”
Fifteen years ago, the Rev. Larry Doughty said he received a vision from Christ: to help the homeless, feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He and his family had just set up a small church in West End, which was built across the road from a line of abandoned duplexes.
“They were actually used as crack houses back then,” Patricia, Larry’s wife, said. “People would go there to smoke drugs and they were being demolished. We didn’t see how we were going to do it, just being a new church and starting from the ground up, but God just so blessed it that these homes would be the shelter.”
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The owner of the duplexes donated all of the buildings except for one, which the Doughtys purchased with help from Habitat for Humanity and different church organizations. And, one step at a time, they built the Jesus Way Shelter from the ground up.
The Doughtys said student volunteers from The University of Alabama have been instrumental in the day-to-day running of the Jesus Way Shelter. Of the 64 volunteers that work there, 47 are UA students, many of whom are involved though the University’s Community Service Center.
“University of Alabama students have been volunteering at the shelter for around four years,” said Jackie Doughty, Larry’s daughter, who runs the after-school program. “They help clean the yards, paint the fences and the basketball court and teach in the after-school program.”
Sarah Davis, a junior majoring in elementary and special education, has been helping at the after-school program since her freshman year. She said that one of the main priorities of the program is getting the children up to speed with the curriculum.
“Often, children who are homeless experience more school turnover than other children do,” Davis said. “They end up being uprooted and [disoriented], and it can leave a lot of gaps in their education.”
Davis said volunteering at Jesus Way has helped to change her perception of what it means to be homeless.
“It has made me aware of how homelessness doesn’t always look like one thing,” she said. “There are single men that stay at the shelter, there are single women, and there are parents and children. They don’t all look the same, they didn’t all have the same life experiences, and they didn’t all arrive at homelessness in the same way.”
Patricia said the shelter receives 50 to 60 calls a week from people needing shelter or aid. The facilities at Jesus Way include four family homes, a library which houses an after-school program and an eight-bed men’s shelter. However, Patricia said they are often filled to capacity and are looking to expand.
“We’re in the process of renovating the men’s shelter and building another, so eventually we’ll have three men’s shelters,” she said. “We want to make it like a step program, the first being a free shelter and then, as they get a job, stepping up to the next place where they pay a portion of the rent and get more liberty and eventually work their way out.”
Nestled in the center of the West End district of Tuscaloosa sit five small wooden duplexes. From a distance, they look to be nothing more than shacks, but from a closer view these small residences have been transformed into a series of cozy, comfortable homes. Outside, a hand-painted sign decorated with handprints reads, “Welcome to the Jesus Way Shelter.”
Fifteen years ago, Rev. Larry Doughty said he received a vision from Christ: to help the homeless, feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He and his family had just set up a small church in West End, which was built across the road from a row of abandoned duplexes.
“They were actually used as crack houses back then,” Patricia, Doughty’s wife, said. “People would go there to smoke drugs and they were being demolished. We didn’t see how we were going to do it, just being a new church and starting from the ground up, but God just so blessed it that these homes would be the shelter.”
The owner of the duplexes donated all the buildings except for one, which the Doughtys purchased with help from Habitat for Humanity and different church organizations. And, one step at a time, they built the Jesus Way Shelter from the ground up.
The Doughtys said student volunteers from The University of Alabama have been instrumental in the day-to-day running of the Jesus Way Shelter. Of the 64 volunteers that work there, 47 are UA students, many of whom are involved though the University’s Community Service Center.
“University of Alabama students have been volunteering at the shelter for around four years,” said Jackie Doughty, Larry Doughty’s daughter, who runs the afterschool program. “They help clean the yards, paint the fences and the basketball court and teach in the after school program.”
Sarah Davis, a junior majoring in elementary and special education, has been helping at the after-school program since her freshman year. She said that one of the main priorities of the program is getting the children up to speed with the curriculum.
“Often, children who are homeless experience more school turnover than other children do,” Davis said. “They end up being uprooted and [disoriented] and it can leave a lot of gaps in their education.”
Davis said volunteering at Jesus Way has helped to change her perception of what it means to be homeless.
“It has made me aware of how homelessness doesn’t always look like one thing,” she said. “There are single men that stay at the shelter, there are single women, and there are parents and children. They don’t all look the same, they didn’t all have the same life experiences and they didn’t all arrive at homelessness in the same way.”
Patricia Doughty said the shelter receives 50 to 60 calls a week from people needing shelter or aid. The facilities at Jesus Way include four family homes, a library which houses an after-school program, and an eight-bed men’s shelter. However, Doughty said they are often filled to capacity and are looking to expand.
“We’re in the process of renovating the men’s shelter and building another, so eventually we’ll have three men’s shelters,” she said. “We want to make it like a step program; the first being a free shelter and then, as they get a job, stepping up to the next place where they pay a portion of the rent and get more liberty, and eventually work their way out.”
When the Salvation Army shelter in town was destroyed in the April 2011 tornado, Patricia said Jesus Way became much busier.
“After the storm we got lots of service,” she said. “We opened up the church and had people sleeping in there as well as the shelter.”
“I think homelessness is becoming more of a problem in Tuscaloosa, and I think it’s more visual now than it has been in the past. In the past, there were certain places that the homeless would congregate but nowadays they’re coming out more and you can see them, but a lot of people don’t notice them.”
Construction of the new Salvation Army shelter is scheduled to begin in July or August this year, with an estimated completion date of May 2015.
The new shelter, to be located on Greensboro Avenue, will contain 88 beds – 18 more than it previously housed.
Captain Dean Moretz of the Salvation Army Tuscaloosa branch said it has been stressful operating without a shelter, but the Salvation Army has continued to provide aid in other ways.
“We still have an eight-bed veteran’s program that we run in midtown,” he said, “And we also provide assistance for people to remain in their homes.
“We’re trying to prevent homelessness in the first place. We’ve also been part of the homeless coalition, trying to secure places for people to stay in cold weather and trying to figure out what we can help them with. Whether that be going down in the areas where they are and handing out blankets or whatever else we can give to help them.”
While the Salvation Army only has $4 million out of the $6.1 million it needs to complete the new shelter, Salvation Army rules state it can start the building process with half the funds it needs.
Moretz said most of the funding has come from insurance, disaster relief and private donors. The City Council has contributed half a million dollars from the disaster fund, but the County Commission has refused to provide funding. According to their by-laws, they cannot give money to a faith-based organization.
Jesus Way has also been denied government funding and runs primarily on donations from the church congregation.
“We apply for grants but we never receive them,” Doughty said. “For about four to five years we applied yearly and we got lots of promises but they never came through.”
As a faith-based organization, Jesus Way requires all residents to fulfill a spiritual participation during their stay. This does not necessarily mean church, and the program will find some kind of service that tailors to the beliefs of the individual.
Although it is sometimes difficult to meet the need for homeless facilities in the city, Patricia said the Jesus Way shelter has had lots of success stories.
“Often the females have lost their children, but because of the residency they’re able to get them back,” she said. “We had one really great success story like that. The mom was on crystal meth before she came here and she had lost her children. But, being the intelligent lady that she was, she enrolled at Shelton State College and stayed here. She was able to finish her degree at Shelton State, she got a job, she purchased a car and she was able to get her babies back.”
In the future, Patricia hopes to expand the shelter, creating a facility exclusively for young people aged 19 to 24.
“You’d be surprised at how many children will say they’ve been living in a car,” she said. “I knew a teenager who said that the hardest part for him was to have to get up in the morning and have to go to a restaurant or to a gas station and bathe before he went to school, to pretend like he’s slept in a bed last night. It’s saddening, but to be able to help those people, just a little bit, is worth it.”
Working together, both the Salvation Army and Jesus Way aim to alleviate the issue of homelessness through community outreach.
“Money can only go so far to solve the problem,” Moretz said, “The church has a responsibility to care for those who are less fortunate and the community needs to do so as well.”
Davis said that as a student, it is a rewarding experience to reach out and connect with the wider community.
“I think that there is a definite tendency for people from one part of Tuscaloosa to stay in that part, just because it’s where you know people and what you’re familiar with,” Davis said. “But I think there is a lot of value in making efforts to cross those lines.”
Davis said volunteers must recognize that there are already a number of great community projects that exist in areas such as in West End.
“Immersing yourself in the community and asking how you can join that work is something that’s even more powerful than going to the West End to make some kind of a difference on your own,” she said.
(See also “Glow Run to benefit resource center“)
When the Salvation Army shelter in town was destroyed by the April 27, 2011 tornado, Patricia said Jesus Way became much busier.
“After the storm we got lots of service,” she said. “We opened up the church and had people sleeping in there, as well as the shelter.”
“I think homelessness is becoming more of a problem in Tuscaloosa, and I think it’s more visual now than it has been in the past. In the past, there were certain places that the homeless would congregate, but nowadays, they’re coming out more. And you can see them, but a lot of people don’t notice them.”
Construction of the new Salvation Army shelter is scheduled to begin in July or August of this year, with an estimated completion date of May 2015.
The new shelter, to be located on Greensboro Avenue, will contain 88 beds – 18 more than it previously housed.
Dean Moretz, captain of the Salvation Army’s Tuscaloosa branch, said it has been stressful operating without a shelter, but the Salvation Army has continued to provide aid in other ways.
“We still have an eight-bed veteran’s program that we run in midtown,” he said, “And we also provide assistance for people to remain in their homes.
“We’re trying to prevent homelessness in the first place. We’ve also been part of the homeless coalition, trying to secure places for people to stay in cold weather and trying to figure out what we can help them with, whether that be going down in the areas where they are and handing out blankets or whatever else we can give to help them.”
While the Salvation Army only has $4 million out of the $6.1 million it needs to complete the new shelter, Salvation Army rules state it can start the building process with half the funds it needs.
Moretz said most of the funding has come from insurance, disaster relief and private donors. The Tuscaloosa City Council has contributed $500,000 from the disaster fund, but the County Commission has refused to provide funding. According to its by-laws, it cannot give money to a faith-based organization.
Jesus Way has also been denied government funding and runs primarily on donations from the church congregation.
“We apply for grants, but we never receive them,” Patricia said. “For about four to five years we applied yearly, and we got lots of promises but they never came through.”
As a faith-based organization, Jesus Way requires all residents to fulfill a spiritual participation during their stay. The requirement does not necessarily mean church, and the program will find some kind of service that tailors to the beliefs of the individual.
Although it is sometimes difficult to meet the need for homeless facilities in the city, Patricia said the Jesus Way shelter has had a lot of success stories.
“Often the females have lost their children, but because of the residency they’re able to get them back,” she said. “We had one really great success story like that. The mom was on crystal meth before she came here, and she had lost her children. But, being the intelligent lady that she was, she enrolled at Shelton State College and stayed here. She was able to finish her degree at Shelton State, she got a job, she purchased a car, and she was able to get her babies back.”
In the future, Patricia hopes to expand the shelter, creating a facility exclusively for young people aged 19 to 24.
“You’d be surprised at how many children will say they’ve been living in a car,” she said. “I knew a teenager who said that the hardest part for him was to have to get up in the morning and have to go to a restaurant or to a gas station and bathe before he went to school, to pretend like he’s slept in a bed last night. It’s saddening, but to be able to help those people, just a little bit, is worth it.”
Working together, both the Salvation Army and Jesus Way aim to alleviate the issue of homelessness through community outreach.
“Money can only go so far to solve the problem,” Moretz said, “The church has a responsibility to care for those who are less fortunate, and the community needs to do so, as well.”
Davis said that as a student, it is a rewarding experience to reach out and connect with the wider community.
“I think that there is a definite tendency for people from one part of Tuscaloosa to stay in that part, just because it’s where you know people and what you’re familiar with,” Davis said. “But I think there is a lot of value in making efforts to cross those lines.”
Davis said volunteers must recognize that there are already a number of great community projects that exist in areas such as West End.
“Immersing yourself in the community and asking how you can join that work is something that’s even more powerful than going to the West End to make some kind of a difference on your own,” she said.
(See also “Local programs feed the hungry“)
