The Okmulgee County Homeless Shelter (OCHS) Board members welcomed Rosie Lynch as Interim Executive Director as of April 2024. The OCHS Board realized transition needed to take place at the shelter and determined to hire Lynch to help in this process, after seeing her successful work this past January with the Okmulgee County Emergency Warming Center.

Lynch set up, prepared, managed and directed this for ten days revealing her ability to work with the community and to have results to help our homeless and citizens, making the choice an easy one.

Lynch has an extensive background in working with the homeless and people in crisis from her on going nonprofit work and volunteering for decades. She holds two Associate of Arts from Tulsa Community College, a BA in Sociology from the University of Tulsa and is currently working on her Master of Science in Counseling from Northeastern State University. She also has received numerous awards such as the George Nigh Scholar Award, the TCC Top 50 Alumni, and the Jack Kent Cooke Award. Lynch is a member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, PEO, Phi Theta Kappa, Okmulgee Rotary, and was the first female to chair the Student Advisory Board to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. She has been a valued member of the OCHS Board for several years, so she was a natural resource when they looked for a different direction at the shelter.

Lynch and her team have been working diligently to change processes for the clients to connect with community wrap around services like CREOKS, Workforce, DHS, and Deep Fork.

“We are committed to helping our clients help themselves, by sending them to our community resources, and to life coach them to a vocational/ housing path,” Lynch said. “For the last eight weeks, I worked with our team to implement clearer accountability with our funding, training for our staff and clients, and trying to reestablish our grant and funding channels.”

Lynch mentioned a phrase that works within the structure of OCHS: Compassionate Boundaries. This phrase means there is a need for both compassion and boundaries to help empower clients to make their own way out of homelessness and into good paying jobs and education.

“Compassion alone is a temporary fix. Boundaries alone can be insensitive and commanding. When we mix the two, compassionate boundaries, we can support our clients who are amid emotional, financial, and mental crises by helping them stay accountable to themselves and the processes.

“The result we are proud to report, is we have seen numerous clients get a full time job, housing while helping them realize their own capabilities. OCHS and the community services just helped point them in the right direction to get help.”

To date, all OCHS adults capable of working have full time, quality jobs at Coke and Polyvision, while others are working interim positions as they look for better paying employment. These jobs are affording them the opportunity to pay for housing and move on out of the shelter. It’s easier to find a job when you have one.

“Watching the light of hope come across our client’s faces when they recognize their hard work can pay off is one of the best things we can see,” Lynch said. “They know they can begin to provide for their families and themselves, which is incredibly empowering. OCHS is proud to be a part of this.”

Lynch added, “We must recognize that the homeless are more than just a catch phrase. They are our neighbors, friends, family members and not just strangers bused in from all over the world. Homelessness happens for so many reasons other than the gossip of, ‘they’re lazy and need a job.’ Many had jobs but lost them with downsizing or their family suffered issues with drug addiction.

“Many had homes but could not keep the property upkeep when they lost their jobs, which led to them being evicted or losing their homes. When we can see the homeless/ our clients as people in need, we can offer a helping hand up. We must remember the grace and compassion we have needed in our own lives, so we as a community can view our homeless clients differently.”

Many of the OCHS clients have lost their jobs and had no family or financial safety net to help them.

Where are people to go? Where are families with children to go when they have lost everything? At times, people in this position end up at OCHS.

Lynch said she knows it can be frustrating, especially when “we don’t know what we can do to help. One of the many ways we as a community can help is by donating to OCHS.”

The community has been incredible in donating food and dry goods to OCHS itself.

The agency also works with the Food Bank to ensure clients as well as their children have access to quality food. The community also supports OCHS when they donate their gently used items to the OCHS Thrift Store.

All profits from sales go directly to supporting the shelter. In kind donations of service and other needed items help OCHS as well.

Finally, another way the community can support OCHS is by donating funds.

“We are in tremendous need of trying to reestablish our grants, but we also need funds from our local businesses, churches, charities, and community organizations/ members to help us stay afloat,” Lynch said. “We are incredibly proud of all the ways our community has worked with OCHS to help our clients succeed. Thank you for serving the most needy in our community. We promise at OCHS to use your funds and donations with the utmost trust and commitment to ethical care and processes.”

If you are interested in donating to the Okmulgee County Homeless Shelter, you may reach out to them at 918-7569098 or by emailing Rosie Lynch at Okmulgeechs@ gmail.com.

Lynch and her team are looking into reaching out to volunteers and will be mentioning this in a few weeks.