OKMULGEE, Okla. — The Okmulgee County Homeless Shelter, which stands near 4th and Morton, is the only homeless shelter in the City of Okmulgee.
It also serves the entire county.
Executive Director Brenda Brewer says that homeless people in both rural and urban areas face the same problems.
“People lost their jobs, they got sick,” said Brewer. “We have mental illness, addictions, alcohol or drugs, and a lack of education.”
Brewer says the shelter mostly serves Okmulgee residents, but they have also assisted people from the Tulsa area.
Within the past year, 169 clients were from Okmulgee and 27 were from Tulsa County.
Richard Lowe is originally from Hughes County. He says he lost his job and was struggling to stay off the streets.
“When you don’t have anything and fall on hard times, you need some help, and this place really helps, and they’re eager to help, which makes it a lot easier to deal with this situation,” said Lowe.
Lowe says he’s grateful for the help, saying “you want to help yourself, and you want to do good and become a solid citizen. Homeless people, they want to become solid citizens, too. They are just down.”
Brewer says the shelter is able to offer similar services that are available in Tulsa, but the shelter can only offer so much, especially when they are nearly full every day.
Operation costs also continue to rise.
“It takes money to pay people, to be able to run this shelter, and our electric bill is 60% higher per month now with the rate increase,” said Brewer. “Our gas bill is up, but our water bill has remained the same.
If you would like to help, you can check out the shelter’s website.
©2023 Cox Media Group