‘You just have to live day to day’: Homeless man shares his story

A small tent and a shopping cart loaded with scrap metal and other items sits on the south side of Southwest Dr. Elsie Hamm Drive.

The tent’s mesh top allows air to circulate inside. With overgrown grass to its south and the roadway to the north, this easement is serving as home base for a homeless man named Darrell on Saturday afternoon.

With the temperature climbing to 104 degrees by 1 p.m. and continuing to rise, Darrell sought the shade of the drive area of the Senior Center for Creative Living, 3501 Dr. Elsie Hamm Drive. Although no fresh water is available for him at the site, an electrical outlet allows him opportunity to recharge his phone while getting out of the direct sunlight and into the alcove where a small breeze helps cool and allows him to recharge his batteries.

The little tent bought at a Walmart has held up well, Darrell said. After staking it down Friday evening, he said it held strong during the overnight storm that preceded Saturday’s heat blast.

Darrell said life on the streets is about self-sufficiency.

It’s not the life Darrell asked for. But it is the hand he’s been dealt. Mental health disabilities and tough breaks have gotten him there, he said.

“It’s been rough for me,” he said. “I’m trying to escape it myself.”

Living in Lawton for the past five or six years, Darrell said the last two-and-a-half years have been like this. He’s lived in various sites in town. He’d been ready to move in with a girlfriend but, he said, that fell apart.

For a while Darrell lived over in the homeless encampment that had collected near the Interstate 44 tri-level. Away during the day trying to find scrap metal to sell, he said he returned to find his belongings removed or destroyed after the area was mowed by the City of Lawton.

It was a dangerous life there, according to Darrell. Bugs, the potential for vehicles to come off the road and the people left him wary. When he leaves a site, he said, sometimes other homeless people will follow and try to take what he has or, if he drops something, they’ll take it before he can backtrack to reclaim it. He’s been robbed a few times, he said.

“it’s one thing after another,” he said. “I don’t try to deal with it in some kind of way. … People don’t always treat me with respect.”

Darrell has worked. He said he’s done fencing, flooring and “a lot of restaurant work.” But getting a job when you don’t have a place to live, rest and clean up starts you out behind the eight ball, so to speak. And finding a place to live is tough without a job. It’s a Catch-22.

“I’ve tried to get a job,” he said. “It didn’t work out.”

Life at a homeless shelter isn’t desirable. It’s barely an option, according to Darrell, due to more people needing it than space available. Location is a key thing, he said.

“I’m in a tent until I can get myself somewhere,” he said. “I just don’t want to be around … ghetto stuff.”

Darrell does receive $70 in food stamps a month. He has to use his monthly disability money to offset the cost for essentials like water, juice and food. He can only eat what he can before it spoils.

“It just don’t make it,” he said. “It’s hard to make it.”

This summer’s exceptional heat also has taken a toll. Darrell said Saturday that the water he had available was hot. Relief is found in small comforts like under the canopy at the Senior Center for Creative Living drive-through canopy and in a cool breeze.

Darrell said he’s not going to give up on life. He plans on seeking assistance in getting into some sort of housing. A devout believer in Jesus Christ, he said he doesn’t want to be placed somewhere where there are stipulations he attend religious services or live under guidelines that conflict with how he chooses to worship.

As he readied to return to his tent home, Darrell said he’ll continue to keep on keeping on.

With a few pieces of hamburger stashed away, Darrell said he will eat this day. It’s not much but every small thing is more precious, he said.

“You just have to live day to day,” he said.