Stone Pillows: The Reality of Homelessness in Denver

When asked why she chose to mentor a homeless mother, Elizabeth Rogers says simply, “Because my pastor asked me to.”  When she thinks back, however, she remembers two powerful experiences that helped open her eyes to the reality of homelessness, compelling her to mentor through the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative.

Elizabeth Rogers

First, Elizabeth remembers watching Lucille Ball in Stone Pillow on TV.  “[Lucille’s character] was in the hospital for some horrible disease and the bills had gotten so high, and her husband and family left her.  Family can do that when things become bad.  And then she ended up on the street.  It let you know how bad it can really get,” recounts Elizabeth.  Watching Lucille Ball’s character -- an elderly bag lady -- pushing around her prized possessions in a shopping cart, Elizabeth says she was riveted.  She felt she understood something of the sad reality of calling a street corner “home.”

Mentor Elizabeth didn’t just learn about homelessness from TV, however.  She saw its ugliness firsthand in Denver.  As a college student at Metro State, she took part in an Urban Interfaith walk.  With other students, she traveled the streets of Denver for four days and five nights, and saw sights she’ll never forget.  “[I saw] people lying on the streets, living on the streets, under overpasses, under pieces of cardboard, over top of any place that would throw up warm air.  It saddened me,” she says.

Witnessing homelessness and poverty can help plant seeds of compassion in our hearts, and  when we are offered the opportunity to address this suffering, we remember what we’ve seen,  and can reply, “Yes.”

Such was the case with Elizabeth.  Last year, the pastor at her church, St. Martha’s Episcopal in Westminster, asked her to consider mentoring a homeless single mom through the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative.   Elizabeth remembered the homeless people sleeping on the hard ground she’d seen as a college student, and readily agreed.  “I got really excited.”

Elizabeth and fellow mentor team members from her church “connected right away” with their mentee, a young single mom with a little baby.  Elizabeth stresses their mentee’s intelligence and initiative.  “She worked hard at budgeting already.  She was just the smartest little gal I’d ever met – she was really very intelligent!  More mature than I was at that age.”  Despite all she had going for her, however, this young woman (Sabrina) urgently needed guidance and material assistance.

First of all, she needed a place to live.  Elizabeth and the St. Martha’s team thought of creative ways to raise the money for the security deposit.  Elizabeth cut hair all day to benefit her mentee mom.  When customers found out about the worthy cause, they paid generously for their haircuts.  Soon, because of Elizabeth’s creativity and her mentor team’s compassion, Sabrina was in a safe apartment where she and her daughter could sleep soundly at night.

What’s more, the mentor team was able to provide Sabrina with some of the practical things she needed for her new home. Elizabeth found them clothes, and at the church garage and yard sale, Sabrina was able to go through the collected goods and find things that would help her in building a home for her and her young daughter.  The mentor team was also instrumental in helping her with the job-hunting process.