Area homeless offered services aided by United Way contributions

When area residents contribute to the Callaway County United Way, one of the crucial needs they help support is Our House, a participating United Way agency that offers services to homeless people.

Kathy Richey Liddle, executive director of the Callaway County United Way, says Our House provides a valuable resource.

When someone is homeless and needs a helping hand in Callaway County, Our House in Fulton is ready to step up and provide comprehensive services.

Our House provides two facilities for the homeless. The Haven House at 829 Jefferson St. offers transitional housing for families with children. And Wiley House next door at 831 Jefferson St. provides overnight shelter for single men and women.

Providing two facilities, one for people with families and children and the other for adults without children, helps improve rehabilitation of those receiving services.

The United Way provided $23,000 to help finance Our House this year and has increased the amount to $24,000 in 2010.

Linda Clemens is executive director of Our House and Jackie Spencer is the volunteer coordinator.

"We are fortunate to have 40 volunteers to help staff both buildings, but that's not enough. We urgently need more volunteers," Clemens said.

The two shelters have differing missions. The Haven House provides not only shelter but also assistance to families to get them back on their feet to lead productive lives.

Wiley House is open only during the evenings as an overnight shelter for adult men and women and is closed during the day.

"We simply don't have enough volunteers to operate Wiley House during the day as well as the evening," Clemens said.

On any given night in Callaway County, Clemens said research shows there are about 200 people who are homeless. She said most of them sleep from couch to couch, in parked cars, vacant buildings, parks or tents.

Because they have different needs, homeless families and homeless adult individuals are treated different and even have separate facilities in Fulton.

Wiley House is only for adult single men and women and no children are allowed. It is open only from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Prospective guests must have a background check completed before they are admitted. Nine men and eight women can be housed each night on separate floors. Guests need to provide a current photo identification card. They are checked for criminal warrants and sobriety.

Guests at Wiley House receive bed linens, towels, personal hygiene kits, light snacks and beverages. Curfew is 9 p.m. and lights out at 10 p.m. Checkout is 6 a.m.

Haven House is for needy families who have legal custody of children. Each family must share a bedroom and receive extensive counseling from a three-member volunteer advocacy team from the community. The family learns how to build financial and educational stability leading them toward housing self-sufficiency. A one-year contract is required for volunteers and families.

At the end of every month there is a group activity sponsored by a community organization or church.

As an example of how the program can help, Clemens says the Haven House in Fulton hosted a couple with two small children. They were in an apartment with plumbing that would not work. The landlord would not fix the plumbing because the couple was a month behind in rent payments. Only the man had been working and he was laid off. Childcare costs exceeded what the mother could earn. She did not have a high school diploma or a GED. They had no transportation. They had no means of moving because they had no money to make a deposit for rent.

The couple moved into Haven House. Volunteers assisted the father with his resume and job readiness skills. He secured full-time employment in four weeks. Both of them attended parenting classes to learn how to raise children. They underwent budgeting classes and both children were tested for learning disabilities. One child was placed in Head Start and one child started public school.

The mother secured full-time employment at the same firm that employed the father. With his first paycheck, the couple paid their previous landlord the overdue rent, showing they were becoming responsible for their debts.

They stayed at Haven House for 17 weeks and saved enough money to move into a nice trailer with a one-year rent-to-own lease.

Now both of them are employed, have a family savings account and have bought a used car.

The father now is doing volunteer maintenance work for Haven House. The family plans to plant a family garden with their children and donate the extra produce to Haven House or to SERVE.