TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Ben Morrison and his friend Tenesha Beasley were cold and hungry and homeless recently, so they stopped by In the Spirit Christian Church hoping to find a welcoming space and a warm meal.

What they got was a chance meeting with a 68-year-old former cocaine addict.

Call it their lucky day. Many years ago, in the throes of addiction, Gerald Keene spent a year homeless in New York City. These days, he drives the A Better Way van three days a week, offering panhandlers a day's work, a day's wage and a chance to turn their lives around.

The program, a collaboration between the city of Tulsa and Mental Health Association Oklahoma, will soon marks its first anniversary, the Tulsa World reported.

"He was just standing right there," Morrison, 49, said of Keene. "And he said, 'So, do you want to work?' And I said, 'Yeah,' and ran into God. He was always with me, but He showed me where to go."

Keene had come to the church expecting to pick up four people ready to work, but none showed up. Keene was ready to improvise — it's what he does every day, really — and so he gave his pitch to Morrison and Beasley.

It goes something like this: Come work with us for a day cleaning city parks, and we'll give you $65 and help you get back on your feet and into a long-term, sustainable job.

"What we are trying to do is, as the city grows, bring everyone along," Keene told a man inside a convenience store.

That's not as simple as it sounds. Many of the people he encounters are dealing with drug, alcohol and mental health issues. Some, like Beasley and Morrison, have spent time in prison.

In addition to helping A Better Way participants find jobs, Mental Health Association Oklahoma works with them to obtain proper identification, legal assistance and anything else that might help put them in a position to work.

"What we try to do is knock those barriers down," Keene told the balding, middle-aged man in the convenience store.

Keene is convincing, but this man wasn't buying it.

Another man got into the van at a QuikTrip and hopped out at another QuikTrip location, as Keene was inside arranging another pickup.

Turning the loss into an opportunity, Keene scanned the parking lot and eyed a man shuffling off the property. Larry Bowers was his name, a former sheet-metal worker who says he lives in an abandoned building.

"If I can make an honest dollar, I'll do it," Bowers said.

By 10 a.m., Keene had picked up his fourth and final worker, a 70-year-old man who called himself "O."

At Centennial Green, he handed each worker a work vest, a plastic bag, red gloves and a trash picker. And because the numbers were low recently, Keene didn't just supervise, he picked up trash.

"You will be surprised how many people start off on the wrong foot who get on the right foot if you are firm with them," Keene said. "But there's the street thing — they're going to try."

Sure enough, a few minutes later Keene had to tell one worker to get off his phone and back to work. It's all part of the dance Keene does every day. He's part cheerleader, part disciplinarian and part counselor.

A year in, his work is paying off, although A Better Way officials see room for improvement.

From March through January, 739 individuals accepted the program's offer to work. Of those, 672 said they were interested in receiving information about employment services. Two hundred twenty-nine of those individuals showed up for follow-up appointments, with 70 starting at least one shift of work at a local company. Of those, 47 are still employed.

About 50 companies have employed A Better Way participants since March.

Robert Harmon, employment specialist for A Better Way, said the organization's first-year goal was to have 25 percent of participants who signed up and appeared for their follow-up appointments land a job.

"Honestly, I didn't know what to think, if it was too high or too low," Harmon said. "But the longer we have gone, the more I realized, OK, that was a pretty reasonable goal.

"Like it to be more, but I believe, in the second year, we're going to have more things in place where companies are willing to hire a number (of participants) at one time."

Will one of those people be Ben Morrison?

In 1986, as quarterback for McLain High School, he led the Scots to the state championship. He was also the Tulsa World co-player of the year.

Now, after spending more than a dozen years in jail, he lives on the streets. He once made a good living cutting hair, and with that, he says, came too much of a good time.

Now he just wants to get his life in order.

"I'm ready to go to work and get some structure in my life," he said.

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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com