OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The Day by Day Homeless Shelter in Oshkosh offers its residents the opportunity to earn money while staying at the shelter.
- The Day by Day guest employment program enrolls up to four residents at a time.
- Darryl Milner used the program to earn money before getting back into a place of his own.
- The program allows homeless individuals to gain job experience and references for future employment.
Darryl Milner became homeless unexpectedly in 2023.
He was working as a caregiver for his mother, who has rheumatoid arthritis. They lived together in an Oshkosh apartment.
“It's kind of a big responsibility," Milner says.
After a procedure on her knee, his mother got an ulcer, forcing her into a prolonged hospital stay. Because his mother was no longer living with him, Milner could not continue to earn money as her caregiver.
Without steady income, Milner could not afford his rent and was soon after evicted from his apartment.
"Had it where, even though we were trying to bow out peacefully, we ended up getting evicted," he says.
In April of 2023, Milner was homeless for the first time.
"I had nowhere to actually go, nobody in town I knew," he says. "A little bit of frustration, and then kind of wondering like, how everything was going to turn out for me, because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get in anywhere or even have a place to stay."
Milner was able to find a place right away at the Day by Day shelter in Oshkosh.
"And I was actually grateful for it, but also a little bit nervous, because I had it where it was the first time I was homeless," he says.
Milner says he was determined to get back on his feet, so he enrolled in as many support programs as possible at Day by Day.
"Had it where I could actually improve my situation," he says.
He applied for the shelter's guest employment program, which allows residents to earn money while staying at the shelter.
Milner was able to get a job doing laundry for the shelter.
"I was actually making money while staying here, and then they made it so that I had a decent start again of getting things back on track," he says.
While working for the guest employment program, the shelter helped Milner get signed up for disability benefits.
With the income made at the shelter, Milner was able to move into an apartment in March of 2024.
Milner isn't the only success story of the guest employment program. The shelter enrolls up to four people at a time, and since its launch in June 2023, 510 hours of work has been completed by residents.
"Some individuals come with zero job history, so it gets them at least a groundwork," Denise Holz, assistant director of Day by Day and leader of the guest employment program, says.
Holz helps the residents with their resumes, interviews them and walks them through new hire paperwork– preparing them for future employment.
"A lot of individuals really struggle being homeless, of course, and they come to us not really knowing where to start, and if they have that confidence built up, which we try to instill here, it makes it a lot easier to go out and find that stable employment," Holz says.
Dwight is another graduate of the guest employment program. He worked for the shelter while he stayed there, before moving on to COTS, an all-male shelter in Oshkosh.
Through the support he received at Day by Day and COTS, Dwight is now in his own apartment and is 14 months sober.
"Not my nature to give up," Dwight says.
Despite many hurdles in his way, Dwight says he was able to succeed through his own hard work and determination.
"One of my favorite sayings is that lots of opportunities are missed because they show up in overalls and look like work," he says.
Both Milner and Dwight still work at Day by Day shelter– now as regular employees.
"Because, you know, these people took care of me when I needed help, so now I don't need the help, they still need help," Dwight says.
While the residents gain confidence and experience through the guest employment program, the shelter gains extra helping hands.
"It's just this huge piece of like family to it, because it's like, we wouldn't be able to do it without Darryl and Dwight," Holz says. "Like they're just as much a piece of the puzzle as you know, [the director, Molly Yatso Butz] is at keeping the place funded."
One of Day by Day's largest annual fundraisers, the Streets for Hope event, is on Friday Oct. 11 at the Beckets Atrium.
