By Nacogdoches Miller

Sun Intern

One early morning, Michele Bradford received a call from her friend Crystal Reese.

Reese told Bradford God gifted her a name.

“She said, ‘God woke me up, and I’ve got the name, it’s the Beacon of Hope,’” Bradford said. “‘We gotta be a light of hope for people. For people who feel lost, that feel lost, we have to be that light and show them that He is the light and He is working through us,’ and I’m like, OK.”

From that day on, Bradford worked hard to be that light of hope for people. She opened the Beacon of Hope, Winchester’s emergency shelter, crediting God, faith and community for the shelter’s ability to give people a second chance.

Bradford, board president, founder and director at Beacon of Hope, said her firm belief in God helped build the foundation of the program with a humanitarian outlook.

The facility, established in 2015, assists those who are in emergencies, not just the “homeless.” The residents don’t like that word because of its connotation in society.

Bradford said people tend to conceive those without a home as addicts, criminals and less-than, which, she said, isn’t accurate.

A lot of the people the shelter helps are elderly living on fixed incomes, families fleeing domestic violence and sometimes teens who have been kicked out at 18 by their parents, she said.

“Not every homeless person is bad, they’re just good people that’s got either demons, or they’re misguided, or they’re just down on their luck,” Bradford said. “They’re people. They just don’t have a house like you do or like I do.”

This mentality is why the Beacon of Hope keeps an open-door policy, so those in extenuating circumstances can find shelter along with many other services needed to get back on their feet.

Incoming long-term residents must have a valid ID, no history of being a sexual predator and up-to-date hepatitis A vaccinations. The facility works closely with the health department, so those without insurance or a way to pay can be covered.

Even with an arms wide-open approach, the shelter has a couple of strict rules for those living under its roof.

“What you do out on the street is what you do, but when you come home, you better be clean and sober when you walk in my door. And you best not bring anything on my property because if it’s found we’re going to ask you to leave,” Bradford said. “We want this to be a safe place for everybody.”

While living at the shelter, residents get a place to stay, three meals a day and access to therapy, peer support and case management.

“Our main objective is not just to house and feed people but get them jobs, get them back out into Clark County,” Bradford said.

It’s the residents’ home, and residents must treat it as such. Doing so, gives residents the responsibility and necessary skills needed to get them back into the community, Bradford said.

“If you’re not teaching them the fundamental rules of how people are supposed to live and how to take care of things, then they are going to stay in that cycle of homelessness,” Bradford said.

Learning these types of ethics stays with residents when they leave the program and lets them start giving back to the community, too.

This week alone, seven people exited the program.

“Those people are now out in Clark County working, paying taxes, shopping at our stores, banking at our banks, so they are paying taxes here, so they are giving back to Clark County,” she said.

Even with such a strict policy on substances in the house and doing chores, Bradford said she is still a “mom” to the residents.

She said she couldn’t stand the idea of turning someone away and not knowing if they are sleeping outside or somewhere unsafe.

Two years ago, the shelter started an overflow program where every night from midnight, anyone who needs a safe place to sleep has one, under the condition of leaving by 6 a.m.

She said this gives those who, for whatever reason, don’t do well in shelter environments a safe, warm place to stay off the streets.

The Beacon of Hope can accommodate over 50 people at a time and up to 10 families.

The program is funded entirely from fundraisers and donations. The organization applied for its first grant this year.

The community always seems to step up to meet any needs the shelter has, Bradford said. Even people out of state have sent Amazon packages to help.

“Our community is awesome,” Bradford said.

Anyone with doubts about the people or the type of place it is are encouraged to meet the people there. Everyone has a story and their dreams, Bradford said.

Bradford said facilities like the Beacon are important because it keeps people off the streets and offers them a second chance.

“Everyone is entitled to the necessities of life, a bathroom, a shower, clean clothes and to be able to lay your head down at night and sleep and know that tomorrow morning when you wake up your safe,” Bradford said.

Phillip Mackenzie, a Beacon of Hope resident for about four weeks, is four years sober from addiction. He said the chores and responsibility he is learning are helpful tools for getting people, such as himself, back out on the street.

“There isn’t a drug known to man that I haven’t done, and today I think God that I am alive and sober, and I feel great today because I am sober,” he said.

For Mackenzie, the shelter has stayed true to its name. He is currently working toward becoming a full-time staff member at the facility, wanting to give back and be a “beacon of hope” for others.