I’m Fred Skeen, and I’m a Case Manager at Hospitality House, helping individuals in our shelter with their next steps to move from homelessness to housing.
I’d like to continue to share the story of a woman that we have called Nellie. We shared part of her story a few weeks ago, but there is more to tell. Nellie is a charming 73-years old woman, who suffers from early dementia. She was homeless for six-years and has been living in the shelter for a year now. She is quite a lady in so many ways and prior to homelessness, she had an incredible high level of life but when her kids were grown and were gone, her life descended and she started drinking, resulting into homelessness. Nellie lived in the woods, and had no teeth, limiting her from eating solid foods that most people enjoy eating on a daily basis. The good news is that Nellie just received new dentures from Chapa-De Indian Health, partner of Hospitality House. They are so professional that I like to refer our clients to Chapa-De dental services; they are very quick and efficient. Our clients don’t have to wait much to get an appointment as Chapa-De’s staff is very responsive. Nellie is beyond excited now and is very grateful to be able to eat a diversity of foods. Nellie is now smiling big and with confidence, making her feel good about self-image. She loves the reaction that people give her when she is interacting with them, and she just glows. Her new dentures make a whole difference and she can now bite into a holiday ham!
Now that we are sure that she’s in good health, sober and her finances are in place, Nellie is now ready to rent, and we need to find a place for her to live; her goal is to start her new life independently. We are looking for a room, studio, apartment or a house to rent. She now can come up with the appropriate income for a rental as the subsidize apartments in town have two and three-years of a waiting list and that would be quite a long time to wait for her to move-out. Nellie has come a long way and we want to grant her with her wish: to have a home.
If anyone listening right now might have an interest in helping individuals by renting a room, studio, apartment or house, I invite you to call me today. I can be reached directly at 530-559-5411.
We thank the many people that made the 14th Annual Night of Giving a magical night! Your generosity will directly benefit Hospitality House Community shelter. The biggest thank you goes to Producer extraordinaire, Mikail Graham! We are forever grateful to the 32 talented musicians, sponsors, over 100 hard-working volunteers and to the wonderful “angel” matching donors who made the triple match for the night possible. Thank you, thank you!
This past week, we were blessed by many caring individuals who prepared meals and we are beyond grateful. I’d like to give a big thank you to Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, Mount St. Mary’s Academy, Meals by Heels, The Home Team, Peace Lutheran Church and Seventh-Day Adventist Church. To everyone who donated our most needed items last week, thank you as well!
Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for this week…
- Men’s jeans, sizes 34 – 44
- Razors
- Cold and flu non-narcotic medicine
- Regular white bread
- Ibuprofen
- Granola bars
Please drop off urgent items to Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way. For all other donations that may benefit a homeless guest or the shelter in general, please take them to the backdoor of Bread & Roses, our thrift shop, located at 840 E. Main Street, directly next door to Sierra Cinemas. Guests at our shelter are given shopping vouchers for the store to buy what they need, so your donation directly helps them. All other items are sold with 100% of the sales supporting the shelter’s operations. If we all stick together, we’ll get what we need. Thank you!