Normally, those who have decided to mentor through the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative haven’t yet met the families they will be helping. Once mentors are trained, they understand that their mentees will be homeless, tired, and needing advice and friendship — but may wonder how this looks in real life.
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From left to right: Brenda Trujillo, Ellen Keen and Mary Matey, mentors from Clear Creek Valley Baptist Church. |
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However, the Clear Creek Valley Baptist team’s story unfolded differently, in a unique and compelling way. Mentors Ellen Kane, Brenda Trujillo and Mary Mahey met the Owens family and saw their desperate need before they became mentors through the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative. Clear Creek Valley Baptist Church busses children in low-income areas to its Sunday School programs. This way, church members get to know parents and can discover ways to address families’ needs. Ellen, Brenda and Mary volunteered with the bus ministry, and in so doing made a good connection with the Owenses, a family of five living in unsafe conditions in a single motel room. Unfortunately, however, the Owenses moved, and the Clear Creek Valley women lost track of them.
One day, mentor Ellen was delighted to receive “a call from Jennifer [Owens], telling us that she had a special opportunity.” The Owens family had heard about the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative, a partnership between the City of Denver, Denver Rescue Mission, and the faith community. They thought it might be just what they were looking for, that maybe it could help them achieve the stability their family had always dreamed of. “Jennifer felt very strongly … that they needed a mentor team,” Ellen says. “She felt that she would really like to have us as a mentor team, if we were willing to do it. The church thought it was a great idea!”
Mentor Ellen has nothing but admiration for the Owens family. She says they have worked very diligently to achieve stability. “This is a wonderful family!” Ellen says. “They are just adamant that they are going to get back on their feet. They are an encouragement to us! They have come up against a lot of obstacles. They just don't quit, they just do whatever they have to do at the time. It's that persistence and perseverance. We're just there watching, trying to assist in any way that we can.”
She elaborates on the difficulties they have surmounted. “[The parents] are both working very long distance from where they live. They spend long hours on a bus, plus Sean, the son, is in school and then takes the bus to where they are employed, and then takes the bus back home with them. This family is overcoming a lot of obstacles. It's very rewarding for us as a team to see that they are as invested in making this happen as we are.”
Ellen says that together the mentor team and the Owens family have worked through some important issues. Continues Ellen, “We have gone over the parent handbook, and talked about Sean (the son). He is rather shy. We addressed ways that he might feel more comfortable in a new situation … we also wanted to make sure that he had schools supplies so he didn't feel left out. We've gone over the budget handbook and their financials. Next meeting, we're going to brainstorm ways to alleviate the financial situation in transportation. We've talked about family, where they are from and their backgrounds, what families they have. A lot of sharing and relationship building.”
Ellen sees relationship-building as what makes the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative effective. Ellen remarks, “It's an opportunity to build a relationship. It’s an opportunity to assist." To people thinking about mentoring, Ellen says, “I think sometimes people are leery of ‘getting involved,’ or sometimes, there is a mindset that perhaps they are in this situation because of something that they have done. And I wish that people could really see that in most instances, these families want the same things that everyone else has. A stable home. I believe [these families] would be much more capable of doing that if they had a hand up, and not a handout. If people would just step out and start to build a relationship, you end up helping a friend. You don't end up helping a homeless family. And we all know what it's like to help a friend.” |
