Temporary Housing
Harbor House Women's Shelter hopes to move from mobile home to larger facility
July 15, 2001
House manager Gloria Crawley sits on the front porch of Harbor House's Women's Shelter, which currently has three residents. While the mobile home has been an effective safe haven for many women, Harbor House is actively seeking a site to build a larger, permanent shelter house. (Gleaner photo by Mike Lawrence)
By JUDY JENKINS
Gleaner columnist
On a spring day two months ago, "Sally" was to be picked up in Henderson by a man who had promised to drive her back to her native Louisiana.
But the fellow never showed up, and her life took a dramatic detour.
"I was going to New Orleans," says the 30-year-old who pronounces the name of the Southern city as if it were one word: "N'Awlins." Instead, she relates, "The Lord stepped in and said, 'You ain't goin' nowhere.'"
She was stranded, with no money and no place to stay. That's when she remembered the name of a local woman she had heard about while doing jail time for writing bad checks. She called that woman, Gloria Crawley, and found herself in a comfortable mobile home in Henderson's North End.
There, where Gloria is a volunteer "house mother," Sally shares the tidy and well-furnished rooms with two other women who are attempting to chart courses for a better future. Given their troubled histories, it appears that their tomorrows would have to be an improvement over their yesterdays.
All have been briefly jailed -- "Vickie" for drugs and "Carol" for failure to pay child support to the relative who has taken care of her two children the last six years.
They asked that their real names not be used because they are striving to rebuild their lives and don't want to be judged on the basis of their pasts. All are working -- two in factories and one in the medical field -- and paying $30 a week board and putting some money into savings.
They're going to church at least twice a week, and Sally is taking Bible correspondence courses and proudly showing off the folder with her certificates from various programs.
Each says if it weren't for the mobile home and the volunteers who are working with them, they'd likely be repeating their previous mistakes.
The mobile home is the interim Harbor House Women's Shelter that one day will be replaced by a large and permanent facility. The temporary shelter, complete with contributed television and sound system, has accommodated 15 to 20 women since a local individual donated it to Harbor House Christian Center in early 2000.
They're not all success stories. A few didn't fully appreciate the opportunity they were being given and violated the house rules, which include mandatory church attendance and zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol.
But others have gladly and gratefully seized the chance to start over.
Sally, who has three children who are not with her, says that until she became part of the Harbor House program and found a church family, "Nobody ever just loved me for me before."
Vickie tells of a childhood in which she was, she said, physically and sexually abused by a relative. Now 43, she has three grown children and one adolescent who lives with his father.
The California native said she became involved with drugs about four years ago and spent seven months in jail here -- her first jail experience.
She has been at the shelter since May 12 and is receiving counseling to learn to deal with the things that happened to her when she was too young to defend herself.
In addition to working full time at a local plant, Vickie is volunteering at two local non-profit agencies.
Carol, 41, a native of a nearby county, says she wasted 20 years on drugs and alcohol and had literally lost everything before coming to the shelter where she has found understanding. The factory worker and agency volunteer says, "I know I can go home at midnight and ask someone to talk to me and they will. We pray for each other and we've become real friends.
"Sometimes there are problems, but not big ones. Like, sometimes I leave soap suds in the bathtub and I shouldn't do that. These are things we can work out."
Gloria, a Harbor House board member and jail ministry participant, has helped Carol build a better relationship with the sister who cares for her children, "and let go of anger." Carol is bonding with her kids, "and we have a healthier relationship than we've ever had."
Carol probably is echoing the feelings of all of the current Harbor House Women's Shelter occupants when she says, "If I could turn back time and change things I would, but I know I can only go forward."
•••
Though the Harbor House board is delighted to have the mobile home that is serving as an interim women's shelter, and pleased that United Way is helping support that effort, members want the public to know they are continuing their pursuit of a permanent women's shelter that will house greater numbers of homeless women and their children.
Linda Fambrough, board treasurer who works directly with women in the shelter, said it's hoped the non-profit, Christian-based organization will have a facility that also can provide temporary shelter to families that have been burned out of their homes and those with other emergencies.
She pointed out that the area homeless are numerous enough to warrant both a Harbor House Women's Shelter for longer-term stays and the non-profit and ecumenical Emergency Shelter for Women, Inc.
Kevin Farmer, Harbor House board president, noted that the board initially had planned to build a women's shelter adjacent to the 2-year-old, 30-bed men's facility at Clay and Alvasia Streets but has since concluded that another location would be more appropriate.
They are actively seeking a site and Kevin says once that is obtained, a major fund-raising effort will be launched. The organization has $50,000 in donations for the project that is expected to cost about $175,000. The board doesn't yet know if it will build or seek an existing building.
The men's facility, Harbor House Christian Center, began with a rented house on Green Street 12 years ago and has helped numerous homeless men.
Now the focus is on doing the same for women in need.
Donations
may be sent to:
HARBOR
HOUSE WOMEN'S SHELTER
P.O. BOX
744
HENDERSON,
KY 42420
