People wait in line for food at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.For nearly a decade, “Sky” Ryan made his home in a pocket of woods near the city, sleeping inside a structure he built and insulated by hand.
He kept to himself, he said, and woke every day with only beer on his mind. He wasn’t looking to be saved or to change his routine. Some days, he would pass by the Chattanooga Community Kitchen on 11th Street and stop for lunch. At times, he used the services offer by the Homeless Health Care Center, across the street. But he never asked about steady work or stable housing.
“I was disgusted with everything in life, and I had no reason to carry on,” said the 58-year-old, who was born in California and traveled east to Chattanooga years ago to help care for his then-wife’s mother.
Then he met Jimmy Turner, a military veteran and student at Tennessee Temple University. At the time, Turner was spearheading outreach to homeless camps around the area through a nonprofit ministry he helped start called Relevant Hope.
Over time, Ryan said Turner and his group built trust with many of the chronically homeless living in his camp, including him. They weren’t like many he had met in the nonprofit sector. He didn’t feel like a number or a problem when he was with them. The organization was manned by volunteers, and the love they exhibited changed him, maybe forever, he said.