Success Stories

At any given time, 7-11% of our shelter residents are Veterans. As of today, 6 Veterans are currently staying at our shelter. Below is a brief testimony from 3 of the Veterans. Understandably, all wish to remain anonymous, and they chose what they wished to
share.

"This is my first time being homeless. I experienced financial difficulty recently,
so I lost my home. Being at Randy Sams has given me a place to live temporarily while I make preparations to become independent again. I am accessing services from the VA while staying here. I have had a positive experience at Randy Sams. For those without
vehicles, being provided with bus passes is an important aspect of being able to get our lives on track with running errands toward reaching our goals to not be homeless anymore."

"I am a disabled veteran, but I became homeless after falling on difficult
times financially from bills and lack of family support. But while staying at Randy Sams, I got a place to live and I move in Monday, so I'm really excited about that."

"I had been living up North with my brother while I was working making low
wages. For unforeseen circumstances, I had to relocate. My wages were not enough to pay rent and my bills. So, I decided to make a change and move down South for a fresh start. I came to Randy Sams and have been working with a VA case manager who is helping
me to find work and veteran-specific housing in Shreveport. I wish life had not turned out to be so difficult, but you just deal with it and keep going. This is my first time being homeless, but my stay at Randy Sams has been good."

We are very proud of a recent past resident, Matthew Quinn, who the Texarkana Gazette featured on the front page of yesterday's paper. Matthew worked hard to attend and graduate from Tonsorial Arts Barber School during his stay at Randy Sams, and he also worked in our internal job training program at Randy Sams during his stay with us. Additionally, he met with and utilized assistance with action steps toward other aspects of self sufficiency from our full time shelter case manager. He very recently moved out because he obtained housing (congrats!) and achieved his goals. We are thrilled about his successes and look forward to his continued success, as well as his plans to continue partnership with Randy Sams by facilitating barber services to our residents.