To find those experiencing homelessness isn’t too difficult, even those near Ohio University's campus.
David Croston sat below the first-floor escalators in Baker Center as he ate peanut butter from a small cup. Peter Pan is his favorite brand, he said —especially crunchy.
That day — Sept. 12 — Croston carried a plastic bag with a Bible, some food and a few cans of Sprite, which he offered to share. The soda had been leftover from the night before, when he received it from the Islamic Center.
Croston is experiencing homelessness but he came from something rather than nothing.
He studied criminal justice and sociology for six years, including one year at Ohio University, which is why he considers himself an alumnus, he said. Croston worked as a probation officer for children and adults as well as a corrections counselor.
“This not having a home ... it (was) seven years on the twenty-fourth of June,” Croston said. “Not having a permanent home — that was my choice because with my moving around, it wouldn’t have been practical.”
Croston said he made the decision years ago to sell his home. He admitted that at times, he regrets that decision.
At 31.7 percent, Athens County has the highest population living in poverty in Ohio, according to the Ohio Poverty Report of January 2015. This is a 13.6 percent increase in the county from 1999. The state average of people living in poverty is 15.8 percent.
A number of those people living in poverty are homeless.
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The Athens County Housing Coalition’s 2013 study, titled "Coming Home: The Athens County Plan to End Homelessness," calculated there were a total of 90 individuals without homes in the Athens area.
“We do our best to count people by sending out surveys over the course of a week in January, asking about a person's housing status on one given night,” Kelly Cooke, executive director of My Sister’s Place, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse in Athens County, said in an email.
Cooke, who is also a chair member of the Athens County Housing Coalition, said a number of homeless citizens are not accounted for in the surveys, as it is difficult to reach every person experiencing homelessness through surveys alone.
Facilities are available for those experiencing homelessness in the county, but there is not always enough room for all who request assistance. In 2012, My Sister’s Place had to turn away 161 individuals due to lack of space, according to the coalition's study.
Though individuals facing financial insecurities may experience homelessness, there is not a direct correlation, said Jenny Stotts, executive director of the CASA/GAL Program in Athens.
CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate, which focuses on the needs of children experiencing abuse or neglect. CASAs are appointed in juvenile court to serve as Guardians Ad Litem (GAL).
Stotts said poverty is one of the “multi-faceted challenges” the families that CASA serves might be experiencing.
Though the children and families that Athens CASA work with do not necessarily experience homelessness on a routine basis, Stotts said housing insecurity is a “common trend.”
There isn’t a definite statistic outlining the risk of homelessness for these groups in the area, Stotts said. However, she said housing situations for many of the families assisted by CASA are not stable.
Along with facilities working to provide shelter, Athens hosts numerous organizations looking to provide food for those in need.
A number of Croston’s meals come from churches in the area, including the First United Methodist Church, which provides lunch for people in the area every Monday.
Allene Kilgore, social director for the Monday Lunch Ministry, said the church serves a wide variety of people with no restrictions and no questions asked. She added that the program has been serving the community for nearly 18 years.
The ministry provides lunch for approximately 105 to 120 people each week, with food provided by the church, as well as the donations of others, Kilgore said. The food purchased by the church comes from the regional food bank in Logan, and the remaining food is bought at local grocery stores.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Croston said.
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