BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Inside Bartlesville's B The Light Mission warming shelter, folks are playing cards. Outside, Derrick Maynard is sweeping the stairs.
Maynard’s helping out, but a few years ago, he was inside, just looking for warmth on a bitterly cold night.
"Every year, they run the warming shelter, we come up here and help run it," Maynard said.
Maynard was set to go back to a place all too familiar: jail. Until Keith and Christy McPhail, founders of B The Light, stepped in.
Keith knew exactly what to do because he "grew up on drugs, and being homeless and all that," he said.
He kept it a secret from his wife, Christy.
"He told me two days before we had our baby, 'I’m addicted to cocaine,' I don't know what that means," Christy said.
What it meant was a significant life change. Christy gave Keith a second chance. He got clean and has stayed clean for 17 years since opening the mission, which serves homeless Bartians.
What meets the eye is a warming shelter, but there’s more under the surface.
"God has a plan for their life, and it doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what’s happened. Don’t be hopeless. There’s always hope," Christy said.
"Finally, there’s a point where you become sick and tired of being sick and tired," Maynard added.
The McPhails plan to suspend their warming operations on Jan. 9 at noon.
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