OXFORD, Ohio — Danny Irwin pours himself a glass of milk. He squirts chocolate syrup into it and stirs. His glass is a plastic cup from McDonald’s. He doesn’t have anything else.
Near the front door, Irwin pulls up a blue blanket in his dining room. It reveals a cardboard box on top of other cardboard boxes in between two chairs. It reveals he doesn’t have a dining room table.
Irwin laughs, because he’s just happy to be here at all.
Until December, the 62-year-old lived outside an abandoned Walgreens in Oxford. Some of the cardboard he put up to block the wind is still there. Irwin has lung cancer and says treatments left him unable to afford his home. He's also been diagnosed with bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.
“I know a lot of people don’t like homeless people, but I was only where I was because of survival,” he said.
Standing outside what used to be his home, which is now boarded up with multiple “no trespassing” signs, he points to all the places he was asked to leave. Essentially every business in Oxford.
That’s when he met Sara Peters.
“He had no interest in doing anything except passing away out there in the woods,” she said.
Peters can’t describe her job in one word. She even hesitates when asked her official title. What she does know is she works with people experiencing homelessness every day. People she feels like deserve more.
“It’s an urgent need in Butler County. And we need resources,” she said. “I’m depending on donations to get people off the streets because the funding we get just isn’t enough.”
Last month, a commissioner told WCPO 9 News it's the biggest crisis in the county. And on this day, Peters drives Irwin to Dollar General. He said he needed a vacuum. Suddenly, she turns around and pulls over.
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“Hey,” she shouted.
Peters gets out of the car on the side of the road.
“How are you doing?”
The answer is not well. She talks to one of the men she’s trying to help find a home, opening her trunk and handing him a care package.
“There’s some snacks in here,” she said. “I’ll come back. Be safe.”
Peters spent the week counting unhoused people in the county. It's part of how state and federal funding is determined. Official numbers won’t be finalized for months, but she said it’s clear the numbers are increasing — even though she’s helped more than 20 people find housing in the last three months.
People like Irwin, who she first met at Taco Bell. Someone who was angry. Someone who said he spent most days trying to hide.
“She saved my life,” Irwin said. “Had she not come along, I would have given up.”
After Dollar General, Peters visits his apartment. The apartment she spent months helping him get into. She’s been here before, but not with furniture.
“Look at you fancy,” she said.
Irwin turns off his TV. He said he hadn’t watched it in years.
“Everybody looks at me like a worthless homeless bum,” he said.
“I don’t look at you like that,” Peters said.
In the hallway, they hug.
