AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man living at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) has a new wardrobe this week after his clothes went missing over the weekend.
Billy Barnes has been living at the downtown Austin shelter for about a year. When his clothing disappeared Saturday, he put on a hospital gown. “It was the only thing that I could wear that would fit me,” he said.
Andrea Brauer, special projects manager for Front Steps, the group that runs the ARCH, wasn’t working Saturday but was in the area and saw Barnes. “They call him ‘Big Happy.’”
“Came to work two days later and he still had the hospital gown on,” Brauer said. “So I thought, okay, that’s crazy, somebody shouldn’t have to wear a hospital gown.”
She posted Barnes’ story to the volunteer group Austin Allies’ Facebook page. “Within minutes we had people [responding], ‘Where can I send money? Can I go shopping?’” said Erika Nowlin, executive director of Austin Allies. “‘What does he need? What are his sizes?’”