The day after Iowa State golfer Celia Barquín Arozamena was found at Coldwater Golf Links, dinner was still served in the basement of First Christian Church on Clark Avenue in Ames.

Patty Yoder, executive director of Food at First, had been in the kitchen, preparing dinner for those in attendance.

“I came out [of the kitchen] and said ‘We’re all kind of shocked by what has happened recently,’” Yoder said to those in attendance. “We should pray for [Celia’s] family and all of those touched by this.”

Then Yoder asked for a moment of silence. The silence throughout the room was unfamiliar for her.

“It was silent,” Yoder said. “It was impressive. Of course we did not know Celia, just having empathy for her family, her and the whole situation, lots and lots of people were touched by this crime.”

Collin Daniel Richards, who has been charged with first-degree murder in Barquín Arozamena’s death, had visited Food at First prior to the arrest, Yoder said.

Yoder said Richards was not a regular and did not come to the program often.

“I do not even remember the last time I saw him,” Yoder said. “He attended [Food at First] more about a year ago.”

When Richards was in attendance, Yoder said he did not cause any problems.

Following the recent event, Yoder talked with people who said they’ve noticed a shift in the perception of the homeless community within Ames.

“I’ve heard people talking and people have come to me and said they think we should be more careful about people being alone or just the fear in general,” Yoder said. “I think it is a normal reaction. Anytime anything happens there is fear.”

Yoder said she finds no reason to pick out a group of people and fear them anymore than anyone else.

“It’s picking out a group of people for the wrongs of one person and that’s not right,” Yoder said.

Yoder said when it comes to individuals within the homeless community, there are many reasons why people are homeless. Individuals may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), other mental illnesses or even because of their own choosing.

“That’s their life and they do not mean to harm anyone,” Yoder said.

Prior to arriving in Ames to attend graduate school at Iowa State in 2001, Jim Coppoc had spent a short duration of his life homeless.

Coppoc said a theological disagreement with his parents lead to him leaving his parents’ home, seven years prior to his arrival to Ames.

Coppoc said he remembered receiving pity from people while he was off on his own. Fortunately, the mothers of Coppoc’s friends provided toiletries to him and after a few months, one of the mothers provided space for Coppoc to stay.

“My experience was mostly that I wasn’t in the place culturally that a lot of homeless people are in now,” Coppoc said. “I was in the place logistically. I was eating out of dumpsters and I was having to go churches to get clothes.”

Coppoc said when he was homeless, he did not fit the image of what people now view as homeless people contemporarily.

“I was not that person,” Coppoc said. “I was one of the million other ways to be homeless.”

Coppoc was not ostracized and viewed the same way others are.

Both Yoder and Coppoc said there are different ways for people to be homeless.

“[Our culture] has this schema in America that homeless people are on street corners and they are begging for money and have hygiene issues, they’re mentally ill or addicts,” Coppoc said. “We have all of these things we put into our schema for homelessness and it is totally not true in a lot of places.”

Social media was where Coppoc saw changes of perception from the Ames community.

“There were people on Ames People asking ‘Why do [Ames] tolerate homeless people in our community,’” Coppoc said. “That’s a question you shouldn’t be asking because homelessness is apart of every society. If you start banning those people, it doesn’t solve the problems.”

Coppoc said within the Facebook page there were people coming to the defense of the homeless community and who had a better understanding of the community. The reactions to Barquín Arozamena’s death that Coppoc noticed did not surprise him.

“It’s the same voices that were always there got to be a little louder for a time,” Coppoc said.

One positive reaction Coppoc saw regarding Barquín Arozamena’s death was more victim support and people limiting their conversations discussing her alleged killer.

“[Richards] was an escalating problem, the state didn’t do what they needed to do and something very predictable happened,” Coppoc said.

Coppoc said his attention to the homeless community comes from his past experiences with homelessness and his church’s involvement with the homeless community.

Coppoc said the prominent stereotypes he sees in Ames are those of homeless camps in the woods and people begging in the on- and off-ramps to Highway 30.

“Homelessness in Ames is much larger than that encampment, those people on the side of the highway,” Coppoc said. “We have shelters that are full and overflowing, we have all sorts of services in all sorts of directions and they are all overwhelmed.”

The problem Coppoc said was very real was the inability for people to access resources such as shelters and mental health services. Even if people were able to access the resources, many can be sent through a loophole and directed to resources that might not give them the proper care needed.

“There are no overarching agencies that can coordinate all of these services and funnel people into the places they need to go and make sure people with needs are getting their needs met in a way that’s useful for them,” Coppoc said.

According to the United States’ Census, 30 percent of the Ames population is living in poverty and Coppoc said this deep poverty is not discussed in Ames.

Yoder said she wished there were more low-income housing available within Ames.

Yoder also said she would like mental health services in Ames to provide in-stay housing in conjunction with the treatment.

“I see a lot of mentally challenged people on the street with no services happening and that’s not good anybody, not good for them, not good for the public,” Yoder said.

Yoder said she was not going to attend the Ames City Council meeting on Tuesday but was concerned about potential city legislation policies that could be passed.

Coppoc said City Council should not focus exclusively on Barquin Arozamena’s death but look at safety in a broader approach.

Working on resources working through the mental health system, through the court system and making public spaces safer were critical to Coppoc.

“I think [City Council is] going to do what needs to be done,” Coppoc said. “I think they are doing the right thing, starting by listening.”

To Coppoc, there are more experiences than people realize when it comes to homelessness.