Woods to a Wedding

It wasn’t the fact that he was living in the woods that got Tommy Hayton down. “I worked concrete paving jobs for years, but once I got over 50, it was time to get out of concrete. I did odd jobs, but I hated the fact that financially I had to live out there…” he recalls.

Tommy had been living in the woods for about a year when he met the volunteers from Joppa. They brought him food, supplies, a propane heater and fuel each week, but, most important, that first winter, they brought him friendship.

“When you’ve been living out there and your clothes are all frozen from frost every morning, that heater becomes the most valuable thing you’ve ever had,” he says. “You wake up in the morning and look at that heater and you just want to go over and hug it.”

“Joppa would come out every Sunday, bringing food, supplies and help, and after a while, I started to help them reach some of the more elusive guys out here. I knew how to talk to those guys, how to get them to open up and trust Joppa. I was sort of a Joppa ambassador in a ponytail,” he jokes.

A couple years later, Joppa was able to help Tommy move into a low-income apartment. “That first night, of course, it was an environmental shock—sleeping inside —a nice shock. I’ll admit, though, I left the windows open for the first month or so,” he chuckles.

“It may sound a little strange, but of all the things Joppa has done for me—in the woods, with housing and aftercare—the fact that they let me come out with them and help really does mean a lot to me.”

Many Joppa volunteers report growing to love the remarkable people they meet and the experiences they have at Joppa, but Susan Cooper fell in love with Tommy Hayton. “It began when I started volunteering on a route with Tommy, doing outreach and talking with folks,” Susan says.

The route took about three hours to complete, and each week Susan and Tommy shared their life stories and hopes for the future. Susan talked about her faith and plans to be a missionary in China. The friendship grew and love bloomed.

On July 19, his 53rd birthday, Tommy gave his life to Christ, and he proposed to Susan soon after. They had a wedding with friends and family at the Joppa Center on August 18. Tommy works as an independent painting and maintenance contractor, and the couple has a house in Windsor Heights.

Susan now knows her calling was always in Des Moines, not in China. “I volunteer with Joppa to bring blessings to others,” she says, “but I received a huge blessing in return when God brought Tommy into my life.”