TULSA, Okla. — Billy McGee found himself homeless more than three years ago after his wife died.
About six months after his life flipped upside down, Royce Myers walked into his life.
"It was three years ago when it was 19 below zero and I heard on the news that people who were out were in serious danger," said Myers. "I didn't know Billy, I hadn't met him, but he was the one person who was in a sleeping bag and did not go when I called the Tulsa Day Center."
Myers, who owns Royce Myers Art Gallery in downtown Tulsa, kept an eye on Billy the rest of the day.
He later learned that Billy wasn't going anywhere, because he had a dog with him, and he wasn't leaving him behind.
"We decided, my wife was with me, that I should just go over and get him," said Myers. "He had a little dog in the sleeping bag and I said 'Who's going to take care of him?" He just sat up and said 'Oh my god I prayed for you,' and I was like 'Well I prayed for you too.'"
Myers was able to get Billy into a dog friendly motel.
"About a day later when I went back to check on him, it was a different man, he even looked different."
With the help of the Tulsa Day Center and other friends who partnered to help, Billy got settled in his own room.
Everything seemed to be going well, until a photo circulated this summer showing Billy and his new pup Sassy out on the streets.
Rapid Rehousing Director of the Tulsa Day Center Michelle Pearson set out to help Myers find Billy, and figure out what happened.
With a few phone calls, they learned Billy had been hospitalized and got just one month behind on rent.
He was locked out of his apartment and back on the street when he came home.
“We found Billy that next Tuesday," said Pearson. "I immediately got with our housing navigator Cara Lee at the Day Center in our department, and we went looking for an apartment for Billy and this is what we found!”
Billy was surprised with a unit in a brand new gated apartment complex.
But that's not all.
Susan Eddings Perez is a friend of Myers's. She owns a home staging company, and was a part of getting Billy comfortable in his first home with Myers.
“I knew that Royce was working with the Tulsa Day Center again trying to get him a place, so Royce was like ‘Hey he’s going to need stuff to get set up,' and I’m like ‘were in.”
Aside from his bed and dresser, Perez gave Billy all of the furniture he needed to be comfortable in his new home.
“Let me tell you, when you’re out there on that cardboard box and its cold, you’re looking like this, you don’t know whats coming around the corner," said Billy. "But when you’re in a safe place, you’re like this, ‘Yeah!' You feel good!”
All of this, because a stranger decided to extend a helping hand.
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