Dustin Bowman once slept in the back of a broken-down Jeep in Knoxville, Tennessee, and on streets, in parking garages and alleys before he ever set foot inside Serve City's shelter in Hamilton. Today he runs the place. In August 2026, Serve City's board made his role as executive director permanent, following his time as interim executive director that began in January.
From Shelter Client to Shelter Leader
Bowman's path to homelessness began after a 2017 Achilles injury led doctors to prescribe him pain medication, according to WCPO 9 Cincinnati. When that prescription ended, he turned to drugs, and the addiction that followed cost him his wife, his home and his children. He lost his mother that same year. It was his nephew who eventually brought him to a discipleship treatment program in Cincinnati, a turning point that put him on the road toward stability.
After becoming stable, Bowman signed a shelter apartment lease at Serve City and later returned to the organization as an employee, the station reports. He started working third shift in the Serve City shelter, then worked in housing and tenant services before becoming program manager overseeing the shelter itself. That climb through the ranks of the organization that once housed him eventually led to his appointment as interim executive director in January, and now to the permanent post.
Guided by Dignity, Grounded in Faith
Bowman now checks in with people using Serve City's services every Tuesday, per the station's report. He defines dignity as being seen as a person, and he promotes the belief that people deserve dignity regardless of their circumstances. Serve City, he says, treats people as worthy of dignity no matter where they are in life, and the organization shares the love of Jesus with those it serves.
“Their current circumstances don't have to define their future,” Bowman said, according to the same account, describing his belief that community helps people climb out of difficult circumstances. He said he wants everyone who comes through Serve City's doors to have hope, and his aim is to help people find that hope and build toward a better future.
Pat Gay, who has volunteered with Serve City for more than 20 years, supports Bowman's leadership of the organization, the station notes. Bowman also personally supports a woman working toward sobriety and stability through Serve City's programs, an example of the direct, hands-on role he plays even as executive director.
A Second Chance Playing Out in Real Time
Keron Givens is one of the people Serve City has supported. Now living in sober housing, Givens is looking for work, and per the station's reporting, the organization's programs provided him a second chance. His story is one of many the shelter says it touches; Serve City helps hundreds and thousands of people in Butler County every year.
Founded in 2001, Serve City operates from its main complex at 622 East Avenue in Hamilton, where it runs the Chosen Shelter, Choices Apartments, Shekinah Apartments, a food pantry and a clothing pantry, according to GuideStar. The shelter accepts individuals aged 18 and older who are not on the sex offender registry, while the food pantry requires proof of Butler County residency and income eligibility, per standards set by the Butler County Family & Children First Council.
A County Under Strain
The need Serve City is trying to meet is severe. Butler County recorded 347 homeless individuals during the 2024 Point-in-Time count, the highest total among all 80 counties in the Ohio Balance of State Continuum of Care, according to data compiled by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. Statewide, Ohio recorded 11,759 homeless individuals on a single night in January 2024, a 14% increase from 2019 and the highest statewide count in a decade, per the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
That same 2025 agency report found Ohio faced a shortage of 2,637 adult shelter beds in 2024, with only 5,701 year-round beds available for 8,338 single homeless adults statewide — meeting just 68% of demand. Locally, roughly 16.4% of Hamilton's population lives below the federal poverty level, a pool of more than 10,000 residents at elevated risk of housing instability, according to figures from the City of Hamilton.
New Funding, Broader Reach
Serve City is expanding its programming even as it settles Bowman into permanent leadership. In August, the organization received a $10,000 grant from the Lindenwald Kiwanis Club of Hamilton/Fairfield to fund frontline staffing and housing navigation services aimed specifically at homeless youth aged 18 to 24, according to the Journal-News.
The shelter's food pantry also relies on community support, including the City of Hamilton Public Works Department's annual “Fill-a-Truck” food drive, which in May 2024 marked its fifth year and pushed total donations collected through the initiative past 15,000 pounds of food, per TvHAMILTON. Elsewhere in Hamilton, YWCA Hamilton received a $240,000 grant from KeyBank Foundation in July 2026 to fund case management at Goodman Place, a permanent supportive housing community for chronically homeless Butler County residents, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the KeyBank grant. How Serve City and providers like YWCA Hamilton will coordinate longer-term housing solutions amid the county's poverty rates remains an open question for the community to watch.
