
“Sometimes I’d just like a glimpse at God’s playbook. I probably couldn’t see it, my eyes are so bad, but I’d like to know what all this was supposed to mean,” says Todd Parsons, 49. He’s tilted back in a dark-colored recliner in the north-side apartment he shares with his wife, Crystal, 37. “I’ve tried to commit suicide three times by jumping, but God didn’t want me yet. Now I’m losing my independence one inch at a time.”
Today Todd is showing off his new “clown shoes,” as he calls them. His DHS caseworker took him on a weekly outing and then to buy the clumsy-looking, white orthopedic tennis shoes. “’Cause I’m diabetic,” Todd explains, “my feet are numb, so I didn’t know my old shoes were two sizes too small.”
“We’ve known Joppa people since before there was a Joppa,” Crystal says. They met Joppa cofounders Joe and Jacki Stevens in 2008 when they were simply helping homeless people as a family. Joppa helped both of them when they were living individually in tents in a homeless camp. Two years later, after Todd’s health forced him onto disability, they were able to marry and move into an apartment.
“But moving someone who’s been homeless into an apartment doesn’t mean the struggle is over and it’s smooth sailing,” says Dr. Greta Degan, RN. “Many of our clients ended up homeless because they lack the life skills to take care of themselves in that environment. They may be very resilient and resourceful in a camp, but untrained to do housekeeping, money management, and a dozen other things they need to do to keep the housing.”
Joppa’s Aftercare Program is critically important to the couple. Since his stroke last April Todd has some paralysis on his left side, slurred speech, numbness in his hands and feet, and increasingly poor vision. His physical limitations mean Crystal is the caregiver, but she has been diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar disorder and a mental disability.
“I’ve lived with people my whole life,” she says, “Sometimes not very good people. But I can’t live alone. I don’t know how to do the responsible things.”
Crystal says Joe and Jacki made them feel comfortable.
“They’re friends, not like professionals who like you ’til the contract is up,” Crystal says. “When Todd was in the hospital with the stroke, Joppa volunteers cared enough to visit him. Agency people don’t do that.”
She doesn’t want to think about what she’ll do if something happens to Todd. “People are trying to talk to me about it, but there’s no place for people like me. Todd believes in God and in a playbook, but I don’t think so. Not for me.”
Joppa has recently helped Crystal engage an attorney to help her through the disability process in hopes of acquiring an income of her own. We don’t know what’s in God’s plan for the couple either, but Joppa will continue to walk with them, loving them, serving them, teaching and supporting them.
Joppa 2326 Euclid Avenue Des Moines, IA 50310 (515) 288-5699
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