Signs of the times: Are they for real?

The Daily Inter Lake

Homeless solicitors often want quick cash, not help

Even though Chris Krager spends his days working with the Flathead Valley's homeless population, he still feels conflicted when he encounters a person holding a cardboard sign.

Like many other people, the executive director of the Samaritan House wants to help but wonders if the sign-holder is truly in need.

"When you see a sign-holder, everybody has - if they have any conscience - a mental struggle, wanting to help but not wanting to help in the wrong way," he said.

Krager wondered what motivates people to stand on a corner or median with a sign. In 2007, he surveyed 68 sign-holders to find out why they chose to ask for help that way.

He asked other organizations and individuals to call him whenever they spotted a sign-holder. The only criterion was that the person had to be holding a sign asking for help, he said. He limited his response area to the north end of the valley.

He received calls throughout the day but never later than 6 p.m. Calls came in streaks, he said. Sometimes a week or two elapsed between sign-holders.

"Summer days and the days right after a holiday seemed to be especially quiet," he said. "This could also be the times that my callers were not available."

Nearly every time Krager got a call, he dropped what he was doing and went to meet the sign-holder. Sometimes that meant leaving work. At other times, he left from home.

His average response time was 45 minutes. The few times Krager couldn't make it, a trained Samaritan House caseworker did the outreach.

His routine was the time nearly every time, he said. First he introduced himself by his first name and shook hands.

"I then simply asked, 'How are you doing?'" he said. "This naturally led the person into telling part of their story."

Their signs often indicated why they were there. Some simply said "Need Help" or "Fallen on Hard Times."

Others were more specific: "Vehicle Problems, Anything Helps," "Out of Money, Anything Helps," or "Veteran, Need Help."

His favorite sign read, "Ugly, Broke and Sober - Will Work."

Once he learned a little about each person's history, Krager introduced himself as the director of the valley's only homeless shelter. He offered shelter, meals and help finding a job. He also handed out business cards from United Way and Flathead Food Bank and gave the person the phone numbers for Help Net and Neighbors in Need.

"Ultimately I would offer to pay the sign-holder $50, let them do laundry and feed them lunch," he said. "And in return, they would have to sweep and mop the shelter, a job that takes probably three hours. When all of this was complete, if they decided not to stay at the shelter, I would give them a ride back to the place I had picked them up."

Fifteen sign-holders took him up on his offer, Krager said.

"Samaritan House was able to help those 15 sign-holders in a major, life-changing way, seeing them through to self-sufficiency," he said.

About half the people he talked to "declined any offer of help other than cash and ultimately refused any attempt to make them self-sufficient," Krager said.

Local farmers and ranchers constantly call Samaritan House in search of day laborers; in recent years, it has become nearly impossible for them to fill their crews because of the valley's abundance of job openings.

Krager told the Inter Lake in October that about 30 people he spoke to weren't interested in working even just one day on a farm. They simply wanted whatever cash their signs might bring.

About a quarter of the sign-holders were gone by the time Krager arrived. He doesn't know how many of them are duplicates and did not include them in his survey results.

All the sign-holders were outside Kalispell city limits, he said. One man told Krager that a police officer had driven him outside city limits because holding a sign inside the city was illegal.

Most sign-holders Krager met were men; only 7 percent were women.

One woman held a sign that read, "Husband Hurt Back, Need Help." She told Krager her family wasn't homeless, but made too much money for public assistance programs and didn't qualify for any disability programs.

"She presented a difficult scenario of miserable limbo between being able to make it and qualifying for programs," Krager said.

Just 9 percent of the people Krager talked to said they were part of a family. All but a few said they were locals; out-of-town sign-holders were more common during the summer.

"In fact, on a few occasions during those warmer months, I was told, 'This is just a passing-through-town kind of thing,'" Krager said.

While talking with sign-holders, he watched kindhearted passersby give them money, groceries, coffee, dog food and phone numbers, he said. While he appreciates the compassion that moves people to help, Krager said giving money isn't always the right thing to do.

"I feel that giving money to a sign-holder is not always the best way to help them achieve success," he said.

He recommends people call Samaritan House when they encounter someone with a sign. When the call comes in, Krager or another qualified caseworker will reach out to the sign-holder as soon as possible, he said.

"At Samaritan House, we create an environment to identify and conquer the situations that led to the problem in the first place," he said. "It takes more time and isn't as easy as giving five bucks, but empowering people to take control of their lives and have success is worth all the time and effort."

Samaritan House can be reached at 257-5801.