'Movin' and doin”

A Ray of Hope gets the downtrodden on their feet

Jennifer Crofton and her five children nearly ended up out in the cold when her husband left them penniless in Kalispell.

"She was faced with going into the streets," Peggy Christensen said. "She came in the door in tears."

Christensen, who founded A Ray of Hope with her husband, Bob, knows this scenario only too well. In the last year, the nonprofit managed to keep 18 families in housing.

"It's even worse now," Christensen said.

Layoffs from the economic meltdown have forced some families into living in cars, garages and other places unfit for human habitation. Single mothers with many children, like Crofton, face nearly insurmountable obstacles with few low-cost options in the Flathead.

"Once they're out of the home, it's a whole new ballgame," Christensen said. "Then they need first and last month's rent, security deposits, utility deposits. And if they've been evicted, who wants to rent to them?"

Just when it seems they have hit bottom, families often face another potentially shattering blow. Without suitable housing, Crofton could lose her children to foster care.

A Ray of Hope has no sleeping quarters for families, but the organization offers something even better - help navigating their way back from desperation's door.

For Crofton, Christensen negotiated with the landlord who allowed the family to stay a little longer in the four-bedroom house. She then worked with child welfare officials to approve their move into a small, less expensive home.

"I got a waiver down to a two-bedroom home," she said. "Now a little church group is building them bunk beds."

With an infusion of about $3,300 in cash, Christensen caught up the lights, gas, water and back rent, and secured the new housing. With a roof over her head, Crofton has a little space to find a job and make plans for the future.

Christensen has faith that she will succeed. She points to a homeless young family featured in the Daily Inter Lake last year at Thanksgiving.

Since A Ray of Hope found the family permanent housing in time for the holidays, the wife has earned a Certified Nurse's Assistant license and the husband had a job in spite of several medical hardships in the last year.

"I've seen so many lives turned around," she said with a smile. "It would blow your mind to see what God does."

She recalled a situation sadly reminiscent of Crofton's. A husband sent his wife and three children on vacation, then sold nearly everything in the house, emptied out the bank accounts and left town.

The woman showed up at the door of The Ray of Hope in desperate need. She had no money for rent and no beds for the children.

Christensen said she was sitting at her desk pondering what she could do to help when the telephone rang. It was a family with a house full of furniture to donate since they were leaving town.

"They had three kids the same ages," she said. "They had everything - beds, dressers, even a U-Haul truck to deliver it all."

According to Christensen, these desperate circumstances begin with one problem launching a tidal wave of other challenges. Typically, it begins with getting laid off a job or a cutback in hours.

Next, they can't pay their electric and gas bills, but still are able to make the rent. As the juggling act continues, they miss their rent due date and start piling up a $5-a-day late charge.

"Then they get really nervous and write a check that they hope they can cover," she said.

But they can't and the bank begins adding daily overdraft fees onto the mountain of financial troubles. In a short period of time, a person or family goes from treading water to drowning as their creditors' patience runs out.

Volunteers at A Ray of Hope have worked miracles for many such people. Christensen said it doesn't always take a lot of money to stabilize people enough to keep them in their housing.

One mortgage payment may stop foreclosure or a set of tires may save a job. In other cases, people just need to learn to live within their means.

"Some people in trouble don't know how to budget their money," she said. "We have a really good budget counselor."

The counselor and Christensen go to work cutting down their spending and talking to their creditors. Other volunteers may teach them how to cook from scratch, cutting their food expenses by half or more.

With a budget and plan in hand, they have success getting banks to waive the overdraft and other fees.

"Glacier Bank has been really good when they know they're on a budget and trying hard," Christensen said.

For single people down on their luck, A Ray of Hope shelter has become the miracle on Fifth Avenue West in the frigid days before Christmas. With subzero cold and deep snowfall, the population of the cozy home also broke records.

"We had people on the couch and two on the floor last night in addition to the 18 here," she said. "When someone knocks on the door at 10 below and we have space on the floor, no one says no."

Those who receive often give back much more as they get back on their feet.

Christensen told the story of a professional mason who had his own business when he became sick and hospitalized and was unable to supervise his jobs. He ended up losing everything, then found A Ray of Hope.

"He fixed our building's foundation, then he got a couple of really good jobs and hired three of our guys to work," she said. "He's a really good man. He built himself up and he's taking several guys with him."

Another resident, Brian Kephart, 46, came to A Ray of Hope after cancer treatments interfered with his job as a cook. He said he called Christensen after losing his place.

"I started out on the floor then graduated to the couch," he said with a smile. "I started helping out as much as possible - they found out I could cook."

A change of personnel at A Ray of Hope opened up a managerial position that Kephart now fills when he isn't working at his cooking job at Julie's. He said he's been helping out ever since he began living at the home.

"That was a year ago this week. I got a clean bill of health [from cancer] two weeks ago," Kephart said. "I guess God has more in mind for me."

His duties include keeping up to 20 residents coordinated doing chores in the house. Kephart recently helped move in donated furniture for Crofton and her children.

He described seeing the family with only one old couch, a broken refrigerator and just an oven for heat. It made him realize that many people have worse problems than his own.

Helping the family uplifted his spirit.

"I get more from helping someone than they know," Kephart said.

Christensen and her husband have spent a lifetime opening their hearts and their home to the needy. A Ray of Hope began as a thrift store to raise money for the down and out.

Then one cold night, a World War II veteran showed up with a horribly infected leg and nowhere to stay. She got him to the hospital, then put a mattress on the floor of the store for him to sleep.

"He brought three buddies back with him, so I put two more mattresses on the floor," she said. "I never started out to run a homeless shelter."

Christensen relies on prayer, her network of churches, community organizations and good-hearted individuals to keep A Ray of Hope going as more people than ever battle tough economic times.

She said she doesn't waste time worrying about fielding the demands. She just gets started "movin' and doin'."

"I've been overwhelmed with people ever since I started this," she said. "Something always happens to take care of people, not their wants but their needs. And everyone is better for it."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com