Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Homeless start to find a home at Mission 911

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Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Homeless start to find a home at Mission 911
Tony Reyes, who started facility, says 'the beauty comes out' from efforts to help homeless
By Mary Moreno
Caller-Times

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Ralph Maxwell (left) and Oscar Burson, two homeless men living at Mission 911, carry a mattress onto the property which used to be Park Avenue School. Tony Reyes bought the school which he attended as a kindergarten student, rented five apartments and uses the rental money, his savings and donations to provide living quarters for six men.

Oscar Burson and Ralph Maxwell were covered in dust and their hands were rough and dirty from building a wall and framing a doorway Wednesday afternoon in a building that a few months ago was in shambles.
   But with the help of its residents, the building that houses Mission 911 now has a coin-operated laundry, a chapel and will have a kitchen to feed the homeless. As the building has improved, so have the people it houses, say the homeless men who have found a home at the mission at 911 Park Ave.
   "Here I feel like a man," said Burson, who previously lived under a bridge. "At the other shelters I'm just another transient. Here, it's more like a home."
   Tony Reyes, a former store manager, opened the mission in November. Initially, he bought the old Park Avenue School that he had attended as a kindergartner hoping to rent out apartments. He rented five units. The remaining three now house six homeless men.
   "I'm doing this to help the community and glorify God," he said. "I think it's important for us to reach out to these guys. They're just like an old building - once you start working on it, the beauty comes out."

Reyes

   Reyes runs the mission using the money he collects from the rentals, his savings and some private donations, and he helps the men find employment.
   The goal of the mission, he said, is to help them become independent and contributors to society.
   "They want to have a life. These guys are here because they want to change," he said. "They are talented people who took a wrong turn in life. If we help them, maybe they can benefit Corpus."
   Mission 911 gives the men staying there a sense of propriety because of the work they do there, something they said they had never felt before staying at other area shelters.
   The men have to live by a few rules - no alcohol, no drugs and they have to attend Bible studies and church service on Sunday mornings, but the men said they appreciate the structure.
   "That's why there are so many homeless out there. When you're out on the streets you have no structure," said Ted Bradley, who has been staying at the mission since January. "When you have structure, you set goals and start to achieve them. Then you start to care."

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Oscar Burson (left) and Ralph Maxwell work at making repairs to the building on Park Avenue where they and four other homeless men live.

   Bradley lived in a park for more than three years because to him it was better than staying at crowded shelters.
   When he first came to Mission 911, he didn't plan on staying. He was going to help Reyes for a day or two and return to the park. But he felt he belonged.
   "I think everybody who is here and has been here feels it's their mission," he said.
   Burson lived under a bridge for more than two years before he found the mission about three weeks ago. He said that before finding Mission 911 he was depressed and thought about suicide.
   Life without a home was wearing him down. He spent all day walking, because if he stopped for too long someone would come along to tell him to keep moving.
   "You get up and you walk," Burson said. "You walk all day long. Where do you go? I tell you, I'm so tired of walking."

How you can help
Mission 911 needs clothing, food, building materials, counseling services and people who can teach trades and skills. If you would like to help, contact Tony Reyes at 882-0911 or 549-6633.

   He was also wary of shelters that dictated what time he had to wake up, eat and go to sleep. He had doubts about Mission 911's requirement for religious studies, but was so tired of living on the streets that he stayed. Now he wants to stay here for a while and help Reyes improve it.
   "When you're homeless, people look at you like you're an old mangy dog," he said. "But all that's changed. I feel like a human being again."

Staff writer Mary Moreno can be reached at 886-3774 or by e-mail at morenom@caller.com

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