Bivouac Update
Ending Veteran Homelessness in Tulsa, Oklahoma: The Bivouac – Chris AOM Ministries
The Journey:
Most people know the beginning of this project that began with an encounter with two homeless veterans one morning in freezing rain at Jenks bridge, on the way to work one dark cold morning. Bought them breakfast at Quicktrip and received a quick education into life on the street as a homeless veteran. Here is a brutal truth. Any veteran who served this country wrote the equivalent of a blank check, up to and possibly including their own life, to this great social experiment we call the United States of America.
In frustration, I cried out to God in anger at the injustice of honorable warriors, homeless, who have served our nation in brutal combat situations, and while listening to Matthew West – Do Something (youtube.com), the singer captured my feeling that morning, as he shook his fist to heaven and told God, why don’t you DO something! God immediately spoke to him, and yelled, ‘I did DO something, that’s why I made You!’
If not us then Who? If not now then When? Its not enough to do nothing, we gotta do something. So I immediately replied: ‘What am I gonna do? I have not money, I’m not even a veteran’.
EXCUSES! With God all things are possible. (not necessarily Easy).
I was in grad school, working as a construction manager, and if grad school taught me anything, it was to research the problem, to seek solutions.
As time marched on, I discovered that veteran homelessness in not just Tulsa problem, although Oklahoma does host a large demographics of citizens that have served this great nation. For the academics in our midst, here is an article sent to me by the amazing accountant on our team: https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2821%2900066-0/fulltext
How do I encapsulate the past 4 year journey?
How my friend Colonel Larry Henderson told me about an organization in Kansas City who built a tiny home community to house homeless vets. Tiny Houses for Homeless Veterans | Veterans Community Project. So, faith without works being dead, I called up there and requested to meet the director, who graciously met me in the Spring of 2019, on site and explained their program, and expanded my mind.
There is military honor in play here, where combat veterans, determined to honor their oath of service, that ‘no man be left behind’. They Aggressively bought a golf course (Ready, FIRE, aim), and constructed a community center and began building tiny homes to house homeless ‘brothers in arms’, and those initial encounters with homeless vets were amazing. Picture this: ‘A homeless vet, huddled in the cold, in 0F temperatures, geared up in winter gear, but in brutally rough circumstances, when out of the cold dark night comes a recon team of outreach workers, ‘Hoorah brother, we took an oath, no man left behind, and we got three hots and a cot for you, if you wanna come in outta the cold. I got your six brother, and you need more than this camp you got here, come on home.’ Vets helping vets, understanding better than anyone else the trauma the bullets and bodies and blood of battle have left on men’s souls.
Let me encapsulate their journey, that has now constructed 39 tiny homes in Kansas City, and for all intents and purposes ended veteran homelessness there after ten years of aggressive hard work.
Their program is simple: Residents are encouraged to join us each morning for chow, where we provide a hot nutritious breakfast. During breakfast each morning, we deliberately bring in community resource groups to make our residents aware of the huge network of community resources available to them for honorably having served our nation, as part of our community philosophy we call ‘Mission for the Homefront’. Case managers also join us each day, with the responsibility of meeting with 10 of our residents each week for a basic wellness check, to see what resources are specifically needed to help people move forward in their particular season of victory. Whether PTSD, addiction, or financial literacy or whatever challenges have surfaced that particular week, our case managers connect them with skilled professionals in whatever area of need is most pressing.
To make a long story short, we arranged for 3 of us to go back and meet the director of VCP, and what a meeting it was. Major Al Flowers, who now graciously serves as one of our board members, asked intelligent questions from a military perspective that I did not think of. His 33 years of service in USARMY brought a level of honor to that meeting that bumped us all up on our game.
Mission for the Homefront:
Welcome HOME warrior! Due to some bad politics, many veterans have huge difficulty adjusting to civilian life. They have not yet come home. In the military, there is an intensely structured culture, with a mission mind-set. Warriors complete their term of service, and instead of returning home to loving families and community, in many cases find themselves isolated and ‘kicked to the curb’ by our government. This disrespect has produced some of the highest per capita suicide rates of any people group, and now we must fight for those who have fought for us.
In our program, people enjoy residency with us for a period of 3-18 months where we intentionally impart life skills, resources, and help to transition to permanent housing, teaching our residents that there is a reason to live, and that this particular mission will result in success, victory and peace on the civilian battle field.
Through the fellowship, we encourage residents to develop a safety net, or rally point, where in the long dark night of their soul, they can face their demons, with seasoned battle buddies, who got their six.
In conversation with leadership in Kansas City, they explained that it is not unusual for new residents to sleep around the clock for a couple days, simply knowing they are in a safe place with a locked door, a fridge with food in it, and a shower and bathroom. Kansas City has included a walk in medical and dental clinic in their campus, Eden village has a free laundry facility on site. As residents get used to our daily routines, and healthy community is developed, there are hundreds of opportunities for recreation, further education, or employment. It is our firm conviction that as these various community groups interact with our community, that the right path forward will emerge for each resident, providing vision, strength and a path forward. This is NOT a crash pad for substance abusers, but a secure and stable gated community, with 24/7 on site security, that will operate in a culture of respect and honor.
Okay, this is the basic philosophy of our community, now lets talk logistics.
After I discussed this initial vision with my previous employer, he offered me a wonderful opportunity, that if I could find land and funding for construction costs, he would allow me to include this project in my project management portfolio, and pay my salary as it got built.
I had no money, and knew nothing about fundraising, but I am a quick study, and began to talk to the Christian community, to see if any church might have land they might donate to build this project. We were invited to visit a church name LifePark, at 61st and Union (close to where I worked in Jenks), and was invited to share the vision with pastoral staff and their board. The board immediately moved and resolved to donate the initial 3-5 acres needed to start construction, and it seemed like my dream was about to become reality. While the pastors and board members present, are great people with a heart of compassion for people and the things of God, there was another board in place in that organization, that had not attended the meeting I was invited to speak at. These board members were the trustees that were consigned on the mortgage on the property, and they did NOT approve the donation of land to our organization, and the two acting pastors were asked to resign. The property was subsequently sold to another organization, and I quietly walked away from the destruction. Religious people can be mean.
So can the devil be mean. In 2019 I had a full blown stroke, that left me paralyzed on the left side of my body due to an aneurysm in my brain. Doctors did not think I would live through this, and if I did, it was expected that I would never walk again. JESUS had another report on this, and as a warrior, I fought for my life. If you are interested, here is my story on that chapter of my life (My Miracle Manifest – Hotter Than Hell 100 2019 – Chris AOM Ministries)
In 2020 Covid hit, and my construction management position was terminated, and suddenly, I found myself without a paycheck leaning fully on JESUS for everything, while still in grad school. Grad school was clearly the will of God, as Restore Hope Foundation paid our rent for the next 11 months, allowing me to graduate in Spring of 2021.
Then, one of my board members, former construction manager from Tulsa Public Schools introduced me to the director of the bond office there to investigate purchasing a surplus school property. We chose Park Elementary in Sand Springs, and put in an offer to purchase, based upon approved funding from the AHP (Affordable Housing Grant), that we had learned about through the SBA. To make a long story short, special interest groups vehemently opposed the project, and pressured a compromised city councilor to shut the project down by vetoing the rezoning required at the Planning commission, and all I received from that was a deeper ability to break at the feet of Jesus to refuse to become toxic and free from bitterness.
2022 and 2023, were almost madness, as we were evicted from our duplex, and I worked at several positions ranging from project executive in Salt Lake City, to prison guard at DL Moss, to public school science teacher, and now as a laborer in a carpentry shop, while continuing to maintain ministry relationships with occasional speaking engagements in churches and many online teaching gigs. During this time I published six books,( My author page https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0BF8G4SC2) I saw my daughter graduate high school and join the army, and my son also graduate high school and elect to work as a Jimmy Johns manager, while I continue to pursue Jesus and His calling upon my life, and His clear direction to build the Bivouac.
Another year, another site
The site we chose to attempt to purchase in 2023 was Sandberg Elementary School on the edge of Broken Arrow and Catoosa. Again, I rounded up the team of contractors required, and again submitted to AHP, thinking that since the city councilor over that district was a 20-year army veteran, that this site would be a great location. Bottom line, we didn’t get funded, and now for the 4th time I’ve assembled a team of contractors, chosen a beautiful site, and seek to perform my mission to end veteran homelessness here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Each year that we submitted the very complex AHP grant proposal, I learned much about both our mission, and AHP. This year, the day the funding round opened for application, I deliberately scheduled 4 hours each day for the month of July to work on it. By carefully communicating with tech support at AHP, our funding application is actually submitted this year, with two questions remaining to be answered, 1. Can we receive building permits on this site? 2. How will we fund ongoing operations?
This is why I called this meeting: there are people here with vast networks of expertise and contacts that I do not have, and I am counting on God and you to help me with this mission.
We have currently entered into an Intent to purchase 6001 E Xyler St, Tulsa, OK 74115 | MLS# 2412922 | Redfin, the house can easily be retrofitted to provide office and community space for our residents, and the adjoining 22 acres are a great site to place the first 20 tiny homes for our first residents, so that we can begin operations as early as 2025 with our first residents.
To encapsulate: 2019-2020 – LifePark Site
2021-2022 Park Elementary Site
2022-2023 Sandberg Elementary Site
2024 – 6004 E Xyler site
Again, we have submitted our funding application to AHP to fund initial land purchase and construction costs. Their guidelines are strict, but with the help of our incredible team, we submitted on time and application is almost complete. What is needed now is: 1, Strategy to get site permitted and zoned correctly, and 2. Funding for the operation and program costs.
Research and hard work have produced detailed and accurate cost analysis of almost every facet of our facility. There are vehement opponents to this project, and I would request this document only be shared with positive contributors to the program, but NOT to press and enemies.
Any help, prayer or suggestions are richly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Chris Walsh
President, AOMMinistries