Lisa Christian remembers vividly the Sunday morning when a dynamic minister delivered a powerful message at her church. FSHI Community Coordinator Shawn DeBerry spoke of the plight of the homeless, addressing the variety of reasons why families and seniors end up on the streets. Then, she issued a call to action. “The city needs your help,” Shawn said to the congregation. “Denver needs faith-based institutions to get the job done.”
People listened. Twelve individuals from Bethany Lutheran Church came together to form two mentor teams through the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative. Today, Lisa, a member of one of those two teams, offers her own insights regarding the process of mentorship and its vital role in the city of Denver.
 |
Lisa Christian and Jill Mees, both mentors at Bethany Lutheran Church. |
|
Lisa’s mentor team embraced a single mom with two children. When she first heard the family’s story, Lisa realized that homelessness is closer to many of us than we’d like to believe. She says, “I’ve learned how easy it is for a family to find itself caught in a negative spiral, and to suddenly be on the street. And I’ve also found how desperately people need a hand to get out of that position.”
How does one lend a homeless family a hand? What is most helpful to those threatened with homelessness? Lisa believes that a mentoring relationship is the place to begin: “[People on the streets] need other people to help give them a break. They do need financial assistance, but that is miniscule in the grand scheme. What they really need are people … it’s our role to help empower the family.”
This mentorship process requires patience, says Lisa. “It takes time. It takes time to get into an apartment, to find a job, to get furniture. You have to be realistic.” So far, the patience applied by her mentor team has paid off. The family successfully moved into an apartment that is “clean, ideal, and perfect for them.” Previously, the family had occupied an over-crowded apartment with other relatives. The situation particularly hurt the children, because there was no quiet place for them to study for school. “Now,” says mentor Lisa, “the family is happy and settled in – that’s critical for the children.”
The Bethany Lutheran team has made use of its contacts and church network to try and find their mentee mom a more permanent job. “That’s our number one priority,” says Lisa. Besides addressing employment, the mentor team also discusses financial security with the family, and tries to make sure the kids are healthy, safe, and doing well in school.
Lisa knows that a faith community pooling ideas and resources produces wonderful results. “Homeless families are often lacking connections,” she says. For example, the eldest daughter in the mentored family needed a computer to apply to colleges for the fall. “In a congregation like Bethany, it’s easy to come up with that resource,” Lisa says. “So many people at Bethany would love to put a computer in the hands of somebody who really needed it. You could go through agencies, but people helping people is what opens the most doors,” says Lisa.
Remarks Bethany Lutheran mentor Lisa, “People talk about making a difference. In this particular program, you get the chance to actually work directly with the people who need help. No matter what political party or ideology you subscribe to, establishing a mentoring relationship is the way to sustained self-sufficiency. Mentoring is caring people directly helping homeless families pull themselves back up, rather than clients only receiving support from an over-loaded caseworker.... We are another set of eyes to make sure they don’t slip back into homelessness.... I believe people directly helping people is the way to go, through programs like Family and Senior Homeless Initiative. It’s an ingenious plan, really.”
|
