Stillwater, OKLA. - If your Thanksgiving dinner included turkey with all the trimmings, you have a lot in common with the folks who celebrated the holiday at the Stillwater Mission of Hope and the Payne County Youth Shelter. If you were surrounded by family and friends the similarity ends there.
Holidays can be difficult at the Mission and the Youth Shelter -- two local United Way agencies that offer temporary housing. But harder still is the truth that Thanksgiving is the calm before the storm. The “Christmas rush” at the Payne County Youth Shelter has nothing to do with shopping and extra company. It’s the “rush” of young people who need to escape from a family in crisis which usually means the 9 kids who were “home” for Thanksgiving at the Shelter will be 10 to 15 by Christmas. Increasingly, according to Director Joe Payne, the shelter is getting youngsters whose mom or dad has just been jailed on drug charges and who have nowhere else to live until Social Services can arrange foster care.
Safe When Home Isn’t
Joe Payne spent 23 years as Principal at the Junior High. Now, as director of the Youth Shelter he’s trying to provide a place that’s safe and happy when home is not. But he’s worried. His agency is heavily dependant on community support and without those private dollars, some youngsters who need help won’t find it at the Youth Shelter. Surely, he says, the gripping images of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina won’t cause people to forget the devastation families endure this time of year right here in Payne County.
Being a “glass half full” kind of guy, Joe Payne is also finding blessings to count this Thanksgiving. The shelter is putting the finishing touches on a handicapped restroom at the residence. It was funded through a United Way capital grant – the kind of “extra-money” that is tough to come by in the tight budget of a social service agency.
As important as it will be in serving handicapped young clients, the new restroom may be even more valuable in helping the Youth Shelter qualify for additional Federal grants. The Shelter has been particularly successful in grantsmanship in recent years as a way to amplify donated dollars. For example, the mentoring program that teaches life success skills to older teens got started thanks to a grant. The program is designed to ease the transition from social services to independent living as clients reach age 18.
Mission is Hopeful
Ray Scarborough at the Mission of Hope is also bracing for the busy season. The Mission served Thanksgiving dinner to 23 residents including one family with young children. Sadly, he too expects to be housing more people by Christmas and he has funding worries of his own. The Mission lost a state emergency shelter grant that expired this year and federal emergency shelter funds could be on the chopping block as officials try to re-balance a budget strained by Hurricane Katrina and unprecedented relief efforts in 2005. Community support will become even more critical as the Mission squeezes through 2005-2006 busy season.
Ray Scarborough is thankful the United Way Day of Caring helped get the well-used floors at the Mission of Hope stripped and waxed this year. It was “practical gift” that didn’t have to come out of the operating budget. He thinks many Stillwater residents would be shocked at the number of homeless people the Mission is trying to serve in this community.
“I wish everyone could come and volunteer at the Mission and hear the stories that bring our residents here,” says Scarborough. Volunteers also help donated dollars go farther at the Mission and many other United Way agencies.
After Christmas Crunch
At Domestic Violence, another dynamic will keep the population down until January. Ralph Lindsay says his clients will do almost anything to keep their families together for the holidays “for the sake of the kids.” He says the two families that were living at the shelter on Thanksgiving were able to get away to enjoy dinner with nearby relatives.
But Lindsay says “If you enjoyed a peaceful Thanksgiving dinner at home with your family, you can’t imagine the stress that is building in the homes in Payne County where domestic violence is a way of life.” Right after Christmas, things unravel quickly and the shelter population grows.
Domestic Violence won a planning grant from the Reynolds Foundation this year to conduct feasibility studies on building a new and larger shelter. The current residence has only 14 beds. Ralph Lindsay is thankful for the planning grant but says a Reynolds Foundation grant to actually build a new shelter would be a blessing with strings.
“The Reynold’s Foundation does not pay for land or survey work so we would have to acquire property that’s either a gift or really affordable,” said Lindsay. “And it needs to be close-in and on one of the transit routes since our clients come without cars.”
The transit system is one thing Lindsay is thankful for this Thanksgiving. He says it has made a big difference to the women who must work to support their children through some very difficult times. He’s also thankful for a new video surveillance system funded through United Way. It offers an additional layer of protection to both the staff and the clients at Domestic Violence. He’s even appreciative of a United Way-provided paper shredder. He says it might not seems like a big deal to most people but for an agency that deals with confidential material on a tight budget, it is one more thing that scarce funds don’t have to cover. ONG’s gift of a safer, new gas stove for the shelter is one more thing on Domestic Violence thank-you list this year.
For Whom the Bell Rings
Another United Way agency, The Salvation Army, already has seventeen bell ringers set up to remind holiday shoppers of community needs this year. They are expecting a great deal of pressure on both their food pantry and utility funds this winter with the high cost of fuel. They are even getting requests for gasoline assistance. As one caseworker puts it,” Low income people drive older cars that aren’t fuel efficient. We can’t really help with gas unless it’s for a critical trip to the doctor.” The Salvation Army is also giving out warm clothes on almost a daily basis and the “Coats for Kids” drive is underway with Dry Clean City, another partnership that expands the ability of donated dollars. And, of course, Salvation Army offers Sunday lunch weekly for anyone who needs it.
Contemplating the local impact of rising fuel costs, the federal budget, domestic violence and homeless teens can be overwhelming, but there is a “Way”you can make a difference. The Stillwater Area United Way is trying to raise $740,000 by the end of the year in order to allow the twenty five local agencies to serve the needs of children, the elderly, the disabled and disadvantaged in our community.
Donations to the United Way may be made at the United Way office, 109 East 9th Avenue in Downtown Stillwater and by mail at P. O. Box 308, Stillwater, 74076. The local United Way website has a great deal of information relating to the campaign and to the 25 agencies supported by the United Way campaign. Contributions may be made online, too, as the website is secure at www.stillwaterunitedway.org.
This is the 53rd United Way campaign in the Stillwater Area. Since 1952, $13 million has been raised in the area and invested in local agencies to assist area residents. Last year alone those agencies answered more than 55,000 calls for help.
And finally, the United Way organization is thankful that Executive Director Shelley Ricker is on the mend. She’s recovering from eye surgery and remains adamant that any “Get Well” cards to her should be United Way Pledge cards with get well wishes written next to the donated amount. Shelley is thankful that her children came in from Washington State and New York City to celebrate Thanksgiving with mom.
