anthony got the help he needed

Anthony Payton

Anthony Payton weighed just 118 pounds when he arrived at the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless. 

“I had no electricity and no heat where I was before,” he says. A picture of him from those early days is more clothing than face, he was so bundled up against the cold. 

“They say that you need to want help to get help, and I wanted all the help I could get.” 

He credits the Day Center with getting healthy and being able to make a life for himself. They provided him with dental and medical care.

Anthony stayed at the Day Center for one year and three months. As of November 2019, he’ll have been living on his own for six years.  He’s gone back to church and took his oldest grandson to college. Being healthy and here is a “relief,” he said. “I just feel relief.”

Part of that feeling is due to Mack, his case manager at the Day Center. “Mack is behind me 100 percent,” Anthony says emphatically. Between his help when Anthony was at the Day Center, his frequent visits now that Anthony is on his own and his occasional request that he give talks on the work that the Day Center does, Mack is a steady presence in Anthony’s life.

“I’ve been on a long journey to get here,” he says. “And now, life is beautiful.”