JOPLIN, Mo. — Christy Owen was staying with her sister on South Indiana Avenue when the tornado struck on May 22.

But because she was not the owner of the property, or a registered tenant, she said she is not eligible for any kind of federal assistance. She said she slipped through the cracks and found herself homeless.

“I even looked for a house in Cherokee County (Kan.),” she said.

That’s when she turned to her uncle, Clyde Black, for help.

Black owns roughly three acres on the banks of Shoal Creek adjacent to McIndoe Park. He offered to let Owen stay on the land until she found a house.

The first few nights she stayed on the property, Owen was approached by others who also needed a place to stay. After hearing of the need, Black soon decided to open his land to others. Word spread quickly. Now the camp, which has been dubbed “Clyde’s Place” by residents, plays host to between 30 and 40 people on any given night. Owen is called “the mayor” by camp residents.

Residents of “Clyde’s Place” are a mix of people, some of whom, like Owen, claim they were left with no place to stay after the storm. Others wandered here from across the country after learning of the disaster. They pulled up stakes and traveled to Joplin in search of cleanup jobs and a fresh start. When many of them arrived, they had little or no money and nowhere to stay.

Michael Schiefer has been staying at the camp since he came to Joplin with a church group from Arkansas. The group went home after a couple of days, but Schiefer stayed.

He says he saw the situation in Joplin as an opportunity to change his life and since coming to town, he said he has stopped drinking and has started a small metal scrapping operation with other camp members. He says he has made enough money to support himself and has split the profits with his co-workers.

“I’ve really embraced this opportunity to humble myself,” he said.

Black said he opened his property to anybody who needed a place to stay because he was moved by the tornado’s destruction and the outpouring of support by people across the country.

He says that, so far, he has not received any negative feedback from neighbors or county officials. The nearest neighbor wasn’t available for comment this week.

Black says the biggest concern recently has been keeping people cool in temperatures that reached as high as 106 degrees, but he points to Shoal Creek as a saving grace during the afternoon heat.

A man who identified himself as Donny M. said he hitchhiked to Joplin from Denver, Colo. Others came from similar distances. Donny, who didn’t want to give his last name, said another resident of the camp rode a bicycle to Joplin from Chicago.

Donny said he was looking to make a change in his life, and originally intended to move to the Pacific Northwest until he saw footage of the tornado’s destruction. After volunteering at a distribution center for 12 days, the 53-year-old came to the camp to get some rest and recuperate. He said Joplin looked like a good place to get a fresh start.

“Every one of us has a human spirit,” he said. “I’m big on recycling. I think you can recycle people, because there are no throwaway people.”

Hoovervilles

During the dark days of the Great Depression, thousands of displaced Americans moved into homeless camps located on the edges of cities and towns. The camps, named “Hoovervilles” in mocking reference to President Herbert Hoover, were a destination of last resort in a time of extreme economic hardship.

Though the Depression ended with World War II, the camps never went away.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates there are 643,067 homeless people on any given night in the United States. Large camps have been identified from Nashville, Tenn., to Montpelier, Vt. In 2009, then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened California’s state fairgrounds to a large makeshift camp of homeless Californians.

Even before the tornado, Joplin had a large homeless population.

According to numbers compiled by the Alliance of Southwest Missouri prior to May 22, about 400 people in Jasper and Newton counties were homeless on any given night. Some stayed in shelters, but others stayed in empty warehouses or camped out along creeks in the area.

James Whitford, executive director and co-founder of Watered Gardens, believes a new count planned by the Alliance of Southwest Missouri could reveal a sharp increase in those numbers, including those who came here looking for work — mostly men.

Whitford, whose organization provides a wide array of services to the poverty-stricken and homeless population in Joplin, believes there is a built-in hero complex in men that makes the effort to rebuild Joplin an attraction.

“They get to use their muscle and sweat a lot and work with other guys in hard hats to rebuild a city,” he said. “There are guys in the shelter who wear their hard hats and orange vests even if they aren’t working, because it makes them feel good.”

‘Well organized’

Unlike many homeless camps across the nation, “Clyde’s Place” has electrical service, a laundry, showers and restrooms.

Black says electricians are currently working on the camp’s wiring, and plans are under way for a small warehouse to hold the camp’s food supply and other necessities.

“I’ve been around these kinds of camps before,” said Bob Joyner, who came to Joplin from Oregon after watching the tornado footage on television. “This one is well organized and clean.”

Several local churches and aid organizations have been bringing supplies to the camp, and Black said they also have established a checking account at US Bank to accept donations and to help pay bills. As the camp residents continue to consolidate their resources, and more semi-permanent structures are built, it appears that some people’s time at the camp could be open-ended, but Black says that doesn’t bother him. He says that he will keep the camp open as long as there is a need.

Donny M., who came here from Colorado, says several members of the camp have already found work through employment services, and he is confident that more people will find jobs as Joplin cleans up and rebuilds.

“We are people who know how to work,” he said. “The jobs are going to come.”