EDITOR’S NOTE — For 19 years, Peninsula Daily News readers in Jefferson and Clallam counties have supported the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
Today we feature the last in a series of articles on how the fund operates and who benefits from our readers’ generosity.
In Sunday’s PDN we will write about this year’s campaign, how much money was raised — and we’ll publish a final list of 2008 contributors.
SEQUIM — Today she’s off welfare, works at a job she loves and is a student at Peninsula College.
Courtney House has come far since her life was a mushroom cloud of drugs, marital turmoil, despair — and homelessness.
She is just three quarters away from getting her degree so she can work as a chemical dependency counselor.
She kicked drugs and wants to “give back and help other people who are going through what I have, especially single moms with kids.
“This past year was really rough for us to go through. I want to help them so they won’t have to have it as hard as I have.”
Then, with a small smile, she adds:
“They say to those with drug or alcohol problems they only have to change one thing – everything.”
Courtney thinks back to December 2007, when she and her two boys — Lucas, now 12, and Nick, 10 — moved out of their home and were in temporary emergency housing in Forks.
She was in the shelter when she was told she had until 5 p.m. Dec. 19 to remove all her belongings from the family’s previous home — or all of it would be thrown away.
The thought of losing everything filled her with anxiety.
She knew they were “only things,” yet some were family items, like her grandmother’s china, that could never be replaced.
Courtney also thought her time in the shelter would be short, and wondered if she lost everything, how it long it would take her to afford even basic furniture when she was able to get their own place again.
In the past she would have turned to drugs to dull her emotional pain.
But she knew she had to remain drug-free while living in the West End Shelter, a nonprofit group that helps homeless men and women push forward with their lives.
Thankfully, a counselor suggested she approach OlyCAP — Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency care agency on the North Olympic Peninsula — and ask for help from the Peninsula Home Fund.
$55, and a turning point
In addition to OlyCAP’s wide array of services, it manages the Peninsula Daily News’ “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund, screening applicants and dispersing the funds.
The agency gave her a Home Fund voucher for $55 to pay a month’s rent at a storage unit.
That resolved, she could now focus on finding a job and a place to live.
She had realized one night in 2007 that she wanted out — out of a drug- laden lifestyle and out of what to her was a destructive marriage.
She was broke, and didn’t know how or even if she could do it, but she knew she needed help.
“I thought to myself, “I’m 34 and should be working for a better life for myself and my kids,” says Courtney.
She turned to West End Outreach, a community service organization sponsored by Forks Community Hospital.
She was offered temporary shelter, got on welfare and received counseling for her dependency on drugs.
But it took Courtney much longer to get settled in a new life than she expected.
The family ended up living in two shelters over six months.
While on welfare, she started volunteering her time at a Forks clothing and food bank.
Seeing how a hard-working and goal-oriented Courtney was, her counselor encouraged her to enroll at Peninsula College.
Then West End Outreach and OlyCAP worked together to help her and the boys move into an apartment in Sequim last June.
Her rent is subsided through a government program titled Section 8 that’s contracted with the Housing Authority of Clallam County.
But she had little money — and had fallen behind in payments to the storage company.
The owners had locked her unit and were going to sell everything — including her grandmother’s china — unless she paid the $200 due.
Once again the Peninsula Home Fund came to her aid.
It paid $85 and partnered with other local organizations to raise the rest of the money.
Since moving to Sequim, Courtney’s has gotten a job and is off welfare.
She loves her house and the friendly people she meets at Peninsula College and at her job — and she talks about how her children are flourishing at their new schools.
“My kids are really thriving here,” she says.
“I’ve just seen a lot of growth and improvement in their attitudes in some many areas.”
She expressed her gratitude in the ways the Peninsula Home Fund, and other local agencies helped jump-start her new life.
“The people at West End Outreach and OlyCAP not only helped me with vouchers, but they also helped with emotional support,” she says.
“They were just really there to help me through some really tough times.
“None of this great start to a new life would have been possible without the help of some very generous people.
“The kids and I are way happier, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
No money is deducted
From Thanksgiving through today, Dec. 31, the PDN’s Peninsula Home Fund is seeking contributions for its 2008 holiday season fundraising campaign.
From Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to LaPush, the fund is a “hand up, not a handout” when there is nowhere else to turn.
Every penny, every dollar, donated goes — without any deductions for administration or overhead — to making life better for children, teens, families and the elderly in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
The fund is used for hot meals for seniors, warm winter coats for kids, home repairs for the low income, needed eyeglasses and prescription drugs, dental work, safe, drug-free temporary housing . . . the list goes on and on.
The Peninsula Home Fund is unique and nonprofit:
• No money, not one penny, is deducted for administration or other overhead. Peninsula Daily News and OlyCAP absorb all costs.
• All contributions are fully IRS tax-deductible.
• Your personal information is kept confidential.
Peninsula Daily News does not rent, sell, give or otherwise share your address or other information with anyone, or make any other use of it.
• All instances of help are designed to get an individual or family through the crisis — and back on the path to self-sufficiency.
That’s the “hand up, not a handout” focus of the fund.
• Whenever possible, Peninsula Home Fund case managers work with individuals or families to develop a plan to become financially stable — and avoid a recurrence of the emergency that prompted aid from the fund.
• Begun in 1989, the Peninsula Home Fund is supported entirely by Jefferson and Clallam residents.
• Money is usually distributed in small amounts, usually up to $150.
• Assistance is limited to one time in a 12-month period. (Courtney’s two issues with the storage company counted as one.)
• As was done for Courtney, Peninsula Home Fund contributions are often used in conjunction with money from other agencies, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of a donation.
To apply for a grant from the fund, phone OlyCAP at 360-452-4726 (Clallam County) or 360-385-2571 (Jefferson County).
If you have any questions about the fund, contact John Brewer, Peninsula Daily News editor and publisher, at 360-417-3500.
Or e-mail him at john.brewer@peninsuladailynews.com.
