‘It’s important tomeet the need youcan meet’

Gigi Seikinnen of HoodRiver has lived in the com-munity for four years, andstarted volunteering for theWarming Shelter when itstarted four years ago.

What got you involved?From the start, I had the

modest goal of volunteeringonce a month. I’ve tried togradually increase it. Mypersonal goal is to help outabout twice a month. Thereare people who volunteermany more shifts, but myconcern is to try to be consis-tent.

As a friend of Andy(founder Andy Wade), Iheard him talk about theman who died from exposure

Volunteer-based WarmingShelter program forhomeless undergoes changesin 2013-14; host sites andmore volunteers needed

The Hood River Warming Shelter is seek-ing to enrich the quality of life of the home-less in Hood River County and surroundingareas by providing “a safe place to meet thebasic human needs of people without shelterduring our coldest months.”

The warming shelter started in November2010 on a rotation basis between five localchurches and had trained 100 volunteers tooperate the shelter from January-March onnights that were below 35 degrees.

“I think we’re getting better every year,”said Andy Wade of Hood River, one of theshelter founders. “The first year we put it to-gether in three months from the first meetingto opening night. Every year we’ve tweaked ita little to try to make it better and I thinkwe’re getting there.”

The warming shelter operates for a week ata time at a rotating list of host sites, and isopen from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.

It has a strict no-drugs-tobacco-or-alcoholuse policy, and weapons and sexual activityare prohibited; families are provided with asmuch privacy as possible. Also, guests mustbe in and stay in by 9 p.m., and “lights out” is

10 p.m.The fact is, being homeless is an exhaust-

ing way to live, and most guests are ready tosleep by 9:30 p.m.

Games, books and conversation, along withfood and warm beverages, are also provided.

Major changes happened this year with theaddition of one venue and the departure oftwo others (more are needed: see Getting In-volved for details).

Sites for 2013-14 include Mid-Columbia Cen-ter for Living Community Room, RiversideCommunity Church, Immanuel LutheranChurch, and Church of the Nazarene.

Volunteers work in pairs or threes, and canchoose from three shifts: 5:45 p.m. to 10:15; 10p.m. to 5 a.m.; 4:45 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Another significant change this year washiring Alan Wiebe as shelter host; five nightsa week he helps at the 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. open-ing shift.

“Alan was one of our top volunteers lastyear, with the most shifts served, and he justseemed a natural to hire for this position,”Wade said. “He has been amazing as far asproviding consistency for our guests and vol-unteers. He’s just done a tremendous job.

“I have heard from repeat guests and vol-unteers how much they appreciate havinghim in the position and the job he’s doing.”

Rev. Linda Presley, a shelter board memberand frequent volunteer, said the number ofguests has ranged from five to 11 per night, in-cluding men and women. Presley co-pastorsat Hood River Valley Christian Church with

Please see TALK, Page B7Please see SHELTER, Page B7

Wednesday, December 18, 2013 B1

12 Columns of ChristmasA fundraiser for the Hood River Warming Shelter

12 Columns of Christmas

This month the Hood River News has published thefirst edition of “12 Columns of Christmas,” a bookletcontaining editorials written by Editor Kirby Neu-mann-Rea from our Christmas papers between 2000and 2012.

Each bears a Christmas message, drawn from adult,juvenile and children’s literature, folklore, song lyrics,Scripture and other sources.

David Marvin designed “12 Columns,” and DebJones, Tony Methvin and Rick Ursprung of ColumbiaGorge Press oversaw its printing.

All proceeds from the sale of “12 Columns of Christ-mas” go to Hood River Warming Shelter.

Copies are available for $5 at Hood River News, Wau-coma Bookstore, and at the participating WarmingShelter supporting churches and organizations: River-side Community Church, Immanuel Lutheran Church,Hood River Nazarene, Mid-Columbia Center for Living,St. Mark’s Episcopal, and Hood River Valley ChristianChurch.

Call Neumann-Rea at 541-386-1234 if you would likemultiple copies.

An excerpt:Christmas in its purest form is an observance both

solemn and celebratory. In Christmas there are two sidesthat do sometimes seem to contradict: the poverty ofMary and Joseph and the social realities underliningDickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” countered by the jovialityof the modern Santa Claus and our predilection forbulging stockings.

This is the time “to be of good cheer,” yet any Christ-mas season is tinged with gravity as well as gaiety.Christmas and the New Year celebration bring out con-templation on the trials of the year behind us.

Yet it is not a slight on Christmas to point out its owntinsel; Christmas literature can help us laugh.

“I am in a holiday humor,” wrote William Shake-speare.

What parent or child can’t relate to Marcelene Cox’scomment: “Our children await Christmas presents likepoliticians getting election returns; there’s the UncleFred precinct and the Aunt Ruth district still to come in.”

Our most popular Christmas writings featured “a lit-tle old driver so lively and quick,” who names his rein-deer things like Donder and Blitzen. Saint Nick has“cheeks like roses and a nose like a cherry.”

Christmas gives us the chance to laugh — a gift weoften forget to give ourselves. “How many old recollec-tions, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christ-mas time awaken!” wrote Dickens.

‘Blue Christmas’ services Dec. 21Dec. 21 is National Homeless Awareness Day.No vigil in Hood River is planned such as the one

held last Dec. 21, but Linda Presley of Valley Christ-ian notes that “Blue Christmas” services on the sameday are an appropriate venue for people who want tohonor the homeless.

“It is a time to be mindful of those who are out inthe cold,” Presley said.

“Blue Christmas” recognizes that Dec. 21 is theshortest day of the year and the “holiday cheer” is nota universal feeling.

The event at Valley Christian Church (975 IndianCreek) starts at 4 p.m. and involves prayers and read-ings and the lighting of candles.

“It is the shortest day, and the darkest night, andChristmas is not really a happy time for someone whohas experienced some kind of loss,” Presley said. “Welight candles for people we want to remember, and cel-ebrate the fact we can express these feelings of griefand God understands.”

According to the NationalCoalition for theHomeless, July 2009:

Individuals who lack a fixed, regularand adequate nighttime residence, in-cluding children and youth who lack afixed, regular and adequate nighttimeresidence, and children and youth whoare sharing the housing of other personsdue to loss of housing, economic hard-ship, or a similar reason; are living inmotels, hotels, trailer parks, or campinggrounds due to lack of alternative ade-quate accommodations; are living inemergency or transitional shelters; are

abandoned in hospitals; or are awaitingfoster care placement.

In 2003, children under the age of 18accounted for 39 percent of the homelesspopulation; 42 percent of these childrenwere under the age of 5 (National LawCenter on Homelessness and Poverty,2004). This same study found that unac-companied minors comprised 5 percentof the urban homeless population. How-ever, in other cities and especially inrural areas, the numbers of children ex-periencing homelessness are much high-er.

According to the National Law Centeron Homelessness and Poverty, in 2004, 25percent of homeless were ages 25-34; thesame study found percentages of home-less persons aged 55-64 at 6 percent.

Research indicates that 40 percent ofhomeless men have served in the armedforces, as compared to 34 percent of thegeneral adult population.

Persons with severe mental illnessrepresented about 26 percent of all shel-tered homeless persons (Annual Home-less Assessment Report to Congress,2008). According to the Federal TaskForce on Homelessness and Severe Men-tal Illness, only 5-7 percent of homelesspersons with mental illness require in-stitutionalization; most can live in thecommunity with the appropriate sup-portive housing options.

Many homeless are also victims of do-mestic violence, and people experienc-ing recent or chronic unemployment.

A talk witha volunteer

Bearing witness

Who is homeless?

In from the ColdCold

Photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea

SHELTER HOST Alan Wiebe, seated above, talks with volunteersat Church of the Nazarene. Volunteers undergo training andwork in pairs, and can select from three shifts. At Riverside Com-munity Church, volunteer Matt Rankin, left, loads mattressesand other shelter gear into his truck for transfer to the next hostsite, with help from some of the kids of the congregation (inset).More venues are needed, in general and for specific weeks thiswinter; see “Getting Involved,” page B7.

SIGNS areplaced alongstreets nearshelter sites.

truly a tribute to the leader-ship and wisdom of many inthe Gorge. They have em-braced working together, fo-cusing on strengths ratherthan weaknesses.

I attribute much of thissuccess to an enigmatic spir-it who goes by the name ofCoco Yackley. An unpreten-tious woman with a uniquemoniker, she has the uncan-ny ability to work with cor-porate executives and indi-viduals in need of healthservices all on an equal foot-ing.

Coupled with the in-domitable spirit of MarkThomas, whose toweringstature is only superseded

by his unwavering faith inthe goodness of man, thisdynamic duo is makingchange an exciting adven-ture.

■

I expect there to be pot-holes in which we will stum-ble, even tar pits in whichwe may become mired. Butwith dedicated leadershipand the ability to empowerothers across the continuumwe will climb out of theholes and begin our ascentto the mountaintop, whereour vision of a healthy com-munity, where all people canthrive, can best be achieved.A group of communitiesthat really care for one an-other.

ROOTSContinued from Page B2

www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Wednesday, December 18, 2013 B7

in Hood River five years ago,and Andy had said, “Thiscannot happen in our town.”

Andy was persistent instating that it’s not accept-able and people need awarm, safe alternative. Andfor me, I guess volunteeringis a way of living out myfaith.

What’s the WarmingShelter like? Every night isdifferent?

It does vary a lot. Twoyears ago we had a lot fami-lies who were accessing thewarming shelter, and you feltgood about knowing youwere providing a warm, safe

place for families to sleep.You come into contact

with some folks you proba-bly wouldn’t deal with muchon a normal basis and Ithink it’s just a good re-minder that for whateverreason not everybody livesthe same comfortable lifethat a large number of us do.

You meet veterans, peoplewho work; but kind of travelfrom region to region look-ing for work. You just meet ahuge variety of people; peo-ple who have mental or ad-diction issues, and it ’shelped me see there are not alot of easy pat answers andsometimes it’s important tomeet the need you can meet.

What shifts do you typical-ly work?

The middle of the night

shifts ones. I’m a stay-at-home mom and do a numberof volunteer things, and Ihave the luxury of being ableto grab a nap the next day;but I find it can be, well, I gotmy Christmas cards writtenon one shift.

It can be a good time toread something that youhaven’t had a chance to reador catch up on some things.

What do you say to peoplewho find the idea of vol-unteering with the home-less to be scary?

I was pretty apprehensiveabout it and I did some soulsearching and knew it waspretty far outside my com-fort zone but thought it wasimportant to take thatplunge and try it.

I relate to that fear. It’s def-

initely worth coming to thetraining. The good thing isthere are a number of peoplewho have done it and arewaiting to take a shift. It’sencouraging that you can bepartnered with someonewho knows the ropes andyou wouldn’t be going in byyourself.

How can people help?I would like to see us be

very sustainable, and I thinkone step toward that is morevolunteers who are kind ofin my category of “consis-tent,” a couple of times amonth, year after year, be-cause those shifts add up andmake it possible. It doesn’thave to be a huge.

■

Visit hoodrivercares.orgfor more on volunteering.

TALKContinued from Page B1

her husband, Dave.“We were so delighted we

were open in November whenit was cold and it was so im-portant to be open that firstweek of December when itgot really, really cold,” Pres-ley said.

“It’s been a quiet group; agood group of people, mostlyguys,” Wade said.

Under the umbrella ofGorge Ecumenical Min-istries, the Hood River Warm-

ing Shelter operates as asteering committee made upof 10 different individualsrepresenting host congrega-tions, the Hood River CountyCommission on Children andFamilies, Oregon Child De-velopment Coalition, andProvidence Hood RiverMemorial Hospital.

This year the shelteropened in mid-November andwill run through mid March,6 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Once providing only a mat-tress, sleeping bag and asandwich, the shelter now of-fers a simple evening meal,breakfast, social interaction,

shower passes, clothes, laun-dry services, physical examsand referrals to those withouthealth insurance.

Funding for the warmingshelter comes from “a lot ofindividual support” and hasincluded grants, includinglocal ones from United Wayand the Lions, and fundrais-ing such as two months’worth of Leos Club can andbottle drives.

Learn more at: hoodriver-cares.org.

— Kirby Neumann-Rea,with assistance from Rev.Linda Presley

SHELTERContinued from Page B1

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and the program in general, visit thewebsite at hoodrivercares.org.

About 100 volunteers have taken thetraining, which is an ample cadre, but acore group is spending one or morenights per week.

More volunteers are always welcome,but to Linda Presley the best approachis to spread things out a little with thefolks who have already been trained.

“If the trained volunteers would signup for twice a month, that would reallyhelp,” she said.

Andy Wade noted that the Unitarian

Universalist Fellowship takes on onenight a month, and other groups are en-couraged to do the same.

“People like that are huge as far ashelping out site coordinators, becausethere are others who can only do itevery once in a while,” Wade said

“We are looking for more teams likethe Unitarians who will take on a night,once a month or whatever works;church groups, book study groups, anytype of group that anyone wants to puttogether.

“If there is a group that really wantsto volunteer I am happy to hold a vol-

unteer training,” Wade said.He also noted that more venues are

needed, specifically these weeks:■ Dec. 29 to Jan. 4■ Feb. 2-8■ March 2-8To help out, email:hrws@hoodrivercares.org

■

Slightly used or new sleeping bagsare always needed along with warmclothing.

Checks should be made out to HoodRiver Warming Shelter and sent to P.O.Box 656, Hood River, OR 97031.

GETTING INVOLVED

Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea

SHELTER GUESTS agree to aspecific set of rules before theysign in for the night.

Photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea

STATE STREET DIGGINGCrestline Construction crews are hard at work at both ends of State Street this week on the Urban Renewal project. A 1-inch natural gas line was accidentally uprooted Thursday morning, prompt-ing a response from Hood River Fire Department, which stood by until the NW Natural Gas repair team arrived.Meanwhile, at Fourth and State, Crestline workers lower into place a check valve for the new water line going into place as part of the project. Expect 15-20 minute delays on State Street ascrews continue excavations between Front and Sixth streets.

Have your kids outgrownall those Legos?

The Hood River Librarycould use your unwantedLegos to start Lego clubs atits branches at ParkdaleCommunity Center and Cas-

cade Locks City Hall. If you have some to do-

nate, feel free to leave themat the kids’ desk, on thelower level of the Hood RiverLibrary.

Lonesome Legos soughtfor library clubs