From The Oklahoma Gazette:

“Dale” worked hard in a reasonable construction job refinishing floors. There are a lot of gymnasiums in the Oklahoma City metro area, and his company had contracts with the big one — the University of Oklahoma, as well as a number of others.

But then came the recession, at least in the rest of the country. While numerous articles were touting Oklahoma’s recession-proof miracle economy, orders for refinishing gymnasium floors fell to a trickle. Dale’s company fell on hard times. His boss sold out to a competitor, and Dale suddenly found himself without a job.

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Related from Voices of Oklahoma — The Homeless Next Door: families on the street

From The Norman Transcript:

“It just broke my heart,” says Tony Gray, speaking of a trip to the river bridge south of Norman where he saw the make-shift shelters of homeless residents. He left with a nagging feeling to do something, a feeling that he couldn’t ignore.

What has grown out of that feeling is a ministry to Norman’s “invisible” population, the men, women and children who are homeless. “I didn’t have the heart to not do anything. It touched me in a way … I will never be the same.”

With $500 in seed money, $250 from his men’s prayer group at Crosspointe Church and $250 from his employer, Westpoint Homes, Gray founded Bridge Norman (www.bridgenorman.org). The word “bridge” refers both to the site and to the hope of spanning the gaps of food, shelter and jobs for the homeless.

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by Ajit Bhand

At 8 a.m., dark clouds were already gathering outside to signal another gloomy day full of rain. A baby carriage came to a halt, and the solitary passenger seemed perturbed. At the front of the line, a young boy in a green Incredible Hulk t-shirt was greeted by a friendly voice…

Photos by Ajit Bhand.