MOUNT VERNON — Five young people and a dog named Duke Ellington can sleep indoors under their very own roofs tonight, thanks to the efforts of a local woman who not only wanted to help, but knew just what to do.
Wendy Larkin, housing coordinator and marketing and billing manager for the new Howard/Mount Vernon office of PremierFirst Home Healthcare, recently gave a presentation about her company’s services at The Main Place, and noticed that a young man named Craig Baker asked a lot of questions. Larkin inquired about Baker’s circumstances and he told her that he and his fiancee, Rebecca Mielcarek, were homeless and taking shelter with a friend, Leo Jones, although Jones was about to be evicted from his apartment. Mielcarek is on disability due to epilepsy; Jones and Baker have been unable to find employment.
Larkin has experienced tough times in her own life, and said she wants to help others who are struggling with personal difficulties and setbacks. So this week she took on the challenge of finding housing for the three friends, as well as for Nat Dotson, Ajay Jones and Dotson’s assistance dog. In the process, she discovered several other Mount Vernon young people who have also fallen on hard times and are in need of help.
Larkin said Premier’s Columbus office has a network of landlords who can supply housing for clients and patients, and she is working on developing the same kind of network in Knox County. She found a landlord with a tiny second-floor apartment off Hamtramck Street and — on her own time, with the volunteer help of her 18-year-old son, Ed Jones — helped Mielcarek, Jones and Baker move their possessions from storage lockers to the apartment over the last few days.
“I’m donating my time,” said Larkin, who made the rounds of local social service agencies and churches to gather enough money for the apartment deposit and first month’s rent. She also took the three shopping for groceries, helped them find cleaning supplies for the apartment and even took them out for lunch.
“She took us out to lunch at Wendy’s,” said Leo Jones, “and while we were there [one young man] told her he needed a job, so she got an application from the manager, filled it out with him and got him a job right there and then. It was awesome. I think she must be an angel.”
Larkin said she usually discovers that the homeless and underserved people she helps have health problems, but don’t have doctors and aren’t taking their medications correctly.
“I find doctors who will take their insurance,” she said, “and I get them into a doctor and set everything up so basically they will be able to live and survive. These people have fallen through the cracks. But now they’re taking the first steps to their new lives.”
