No place called home

At the Crazy Love Ministries warming center in downtown Shelton, 66-year-old Kevin Hendrickson was known as a gentleman who held doors for others, cracked jokes and offered encouraging words to others who lived on the streets.

In 2003, a motorcycle accident left the Kent resident in a coma. He emerged from the hospital a year later a changed man, said his son, Eric. He had to learn to walk and talk again, and he drifted away from his family.

By about 2015, Hendrickson was living on the streets in Shelton. After part of his toe was amputated a year ago, Hendrickson told Crazy Love Ministries Executive Wendy Petty he needed housing.

But he was homeless when he died March 19 at Mason General Hospital. Petty said his last text to her read, "I'm checking out of the hospital again. I need a home."

He left behind three sons and three grandchildren.

A rainbow appeared as about 40 people gathered for a memorial service April 8 in the parking lot next to the Mason Transit Center. Most of them were homeless, and they shared a meal of chicken and salad provided by Crazy Love Ministries before the service. One by one, they stepped up to the microphone to share stories of Hendrickson's good humor and grace.

"I appreciate you being family to him," said his son told the attendees.

Petty, who met Hendrickson at her group's street feed in 2017, shared her grief about losing the man who was often sitting on the pavement in front of the warming center when she arrived to open the building. In an interview with the Shelton-Mason County Journal, Petty posed this question: why wasn't housing available to a 66-year-old man with mental and multiple health problems?

"He was a gentle man whose life just got turned upside down," she said.

Hendrickson wouldn't talk about why he didn't want to stay nights at the Community Lifeline shelter, Petty said. He walked away from treatment at Mason General Hospital, she said. During his last two weeks of life, he stayed with a person who has previously been homeless, she said.

"Is there anything more we could have done?" Petty asked.

Hendrickson's family tried to get him housing, she said. "It was just dead end after dead end."

His son agreed.

"He was disabled, but he didn't qualify for housing ... It was booked, or he didn't meet qualifications," he said.

In a statement to the Journal, Petty wrote that she "still can't figure out why Kevin never made it to the top of the housing list. He should have instantly been considered a most vulnerable person and been a priority. I'm tired of hearing the excuse (that) Mason County has a housing shortage. When we can't house a homeless senior citizen who's in a medical crisis our community has a serious issue."

One housing option for the homeless is set to open in about a year. Five years after receiving state funding, ground is finally set to be broken this summer for a village for homeless veterans in Shelton.

The Shelton Veteran's Village will feature seven four-plexes, two duplexes and a community center on a triangle of land leased from the City of Shelton on North 13th Street in the Mountain View area, near Olympic College Shelton. Homeless veterans from Shelton and Mason County will be given preference in housing. Construction is expected to be completed next April.

"I am hoping Kevin's life will help our community see how important it is for us to do better," Petty wrote. "I know Kevin would want nothing more than for those he was on the streets with to be provided with housing options if they ever find themselves facing similar challenges."