Oklahoma City Bombing

A helping hand is being offered to people considered "secondary" victims of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing.

"There are just all kinds of people who ... who don't fit the square holes in terms of getting help from agencies," said the Rev. C. Dene Brown, director of Skyline Urban Ministry.

Secondary victims are those whose primary resources have been lost because of the tragedy, Brown said.

Skyline has hired a staff person to go into the inner-city areas to identify the people who might be reluctant or unsure about how to get help, Brown said.

"Our church has decided to take the approach that if we run into a real need, we're going to try to do something about it," Brown said.

Meanwhile, local shelters are noticing an increase in the number of homeless seeking assistance.

Antoinette Hinton, the Salvation Army's social services director, said counseling services have been offered to people staying at the organization's shelter.

After the bombing, the Salvation Army housed about 25 men who had been staying at the YMCA when the explosion occurred.

While securing counseling services for these men, officials noticed the shelter's regular clientele seemed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, she said.

"For a lot of these folks, they don't feel safe in walking by public buildings now," Hinton said.

Mickey Kalman, director of City Rescue Mission, said his shelter has seen an increase in homeless, most of whom have said they simply want to be around other people now.

At Skyline, director Brown said the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church has received money that is available for helping people who missed out on other forms of assistance.

Skyline also offers referrals.