KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Wednesday, 36 local resources joined together to provide care to people experiencing homelessness. From free medical care to ID registration to clothing, partners are trying to make these essentials accessible to everyone.
Community advocates said there’s an increasing need in the community for these services. Typically, CareCuts of Knoxville provides daytime services to people experiencing homelessness in the area three times a week. On Wednesday, however, it was a bigger meeting with even more resources.
“It’s heaven-sent,” Gaylene Goins said about having access to resources in one place. “It’s a blessing from God … It helps the soul.”
For people like Gilbert Frazier, the fair was a place to enjoy a meal.
“I just wanted something to eat,” said Frazier, a Roane County native. “Where I live at, they don't have stuff like this.”
For Madaya Owens, it was a way to get a phone.
“[I’m] excited,” Owens said. “I can finally reach out to people I need to contact and stuff.”
Marti Baker is the founder of CareCuts, which provides haircuts and other resources to people experiencing homelessness.
“Without essentials, they will never be able to move forward,” Baker said about the population she’s been serving for years. “Everybody wants to complain about homelessness but they don't want to get down here and get with them. We’ve got to get with them.”
Now, Baker is doing that alongside partners like Remote Area Medical.
“The people in this area are lacking basic medical needs, basic medical care and a lot of people take it for granted, you know, having that resource and we're just trying to fill the gap here for the people that don't,” said Kim Worley, a RAM Telehealth Clinic Coordinator.
She said the need continues to grow.
“Last year with our mobile medical telehealth, we ended the year with 530 patients,” Worley said. “This June, we ended the first half of 2024 with over 600.”
RAM provides free medical telehealth with doctors like Paul Hart.
“Everybody should have coverage and [Baker is] making sure that people get what they need,” said Hart, a family doctor. “People don't realize what these folks are going through ... For me, this is the highlight of my day just being able to volunteer with these folks. I love it.”
Baker believes rising costs and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are to blame for the increased need for resources to help homeless people.
“I mean, I've done this for about 17, 18 years now and we've never seen the groves of people from Chicago. They're here from Arkansas, they're here from Florida,” Baker said. “People that have never been homeless before are losing their homes.”
Baker said the next step is trying to secure a new building, so CareCuts can continue to expand services, hoping to connect people with resources seven days a week — even outside of Knoxville.
“We want to see them have an opportunity to go back into regular life and this is the way we do it, is to provide them the opportunities and show them the resources available,” said James Tuttle, the CareCuts Board President. “An integral part of what we're seeing right now also is people that are falling behind on bills or falling behind in situations with their rent and they need an outlet and there are outlets out there, but they don't know where to go. And so what we hope to become is that resource center to provide those services.”
Tuttle said this quarterly resource fair is a step toward helping people like Owens.
“It's very important to people who might need it and I really needed it,” she said. “So it was very helpful.”
Baker said providing essentials like clean clothes, haircuts and food is crucial to helping homeless people. She said the nonprofit realized it needed to more than just cut hair once it started working with homeless people.
“Once we started cutting their hair, we realized that they needed a shower, they needed clothes, they needed shoes and they were hungry and they were thirsty,” Baker said. “And then we realized that they needed the resources. They couldn't get from A to B to C to D to do it.”
Now, Baker said her organization’s efforts are working.
“We got 62 people in housing since January,” Baker said. “We've got all kinds of people working in jobs and hotels and restaurants in downtown Knoxville. We have them working at Nippon Denso. We have them in recovery homes, and they're graduating from recovery homes and becoming peers.”
Worley said as of now, RAM is working at CareCuts twice a month. In the future, she hopes to increase the free medical care to three to four times a month.