Hand Up Project helps homeless have Merry Christmas (slide show)

MARYSVILLE – Debbie wrapped a warm London Fog coat around the other two jackets she was wearing, smiled and said, “This is a Merry Christmas.”

She was one of dozens of local homeless people who attended the Hand Up Project Resource Lunch at the Reset Church in Marysville Dec. 16.

One battle the homeless constantly fight is that services are spread so far apart. At this event, the homeless had a variety of resources available under one roof.

“I’ve been telling everybody about it,” Debbie said. “I’m so excited. It can take three months to go everywhere, and here just three hours.

Kari Torchia, an administrator with Hand Up, said, “Even I like one-stop shopping.”

She said clothes were donated by the truck load from places such as Walmart. About 50 hats were donated, along with health and knitted items.

Torchia said the leader of Hand Up, Robert Smiley, took backpacks full of supplies into the woods where homeless people sleep.

“That takes away the fear element and shows them a familiar face,” she said.

As a result of the trust he built with them, many showed up at the event.

“You establish the trust, then they go back and tell their friends,” Smiley said. “They get help, and then their friends see what happens.”

For example, he said at the mission in Everett five people said they want to be homeless. But months later three have jobs and housing. Of the other two, one is in prison and the other on drugs, but that’s still a good percentage.

Smiley said building trust is key.

“They have a tendency to back away because they’ve given up on help,” he said. “Some people do it half-heartedly” to look good.

One of the more popular tables was that of Budget Mobile, which advertised free phones and texting. Babu Keita said the often go to shelters and food banks to find clients. The state contracts with carriers to provide up to 250 minutes of phoning and texting, as long as people can show they are receiving some type of public assistance, such as food stamps. Since 54 percent of Americans receive some type of public assistance, many people qualify who don’t know it, especially seniors, he said.

Bill Gable of Worksource said he was there to help homeless veterans. He can help them find housing, training, jobs and even bus fare and clothes for an interview.

Dan Shedd, a deacon at the Reset Church, said he became interested in helping the homeless after a man came to the church just before Thanksgiving when temperatures were freezing, asking for money to buy diapers.

“There’s such a need,” he said. “God put a burden on my heart to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless.”

Shedd has big dreams, including providing shelters for men, and women and children.

“This is more than the church,” he said. “This is community-wide, partnering together.”

Of the Hand Up event, he added: “This is a good beginning. This will help people who don’t have homes and are living on the streets.”

Smiley’s wife, Theresa, explained why her husband is so driven to help the homeless.

“He’s been in their shoes,” she said, adding he’s been clean for three years. “It helps him stay sober.”

She said the people at the event in Marysville needed the help more than in other communities.

“They were a little more desperate and in need of stuff,” she said.

And Smiley himself said Hand Up is not done. Its volunteers will be transporting homeless who attended the event to various doctor and dental appointments.

“We’ll do everything we can for them,” he said. “We pick people up and drive them all over the place.”

Smiley said the event was rushed, put together in a month, but he’d like to “dig in here and stay here for awhile.” He said he seems to have the support of the community, churches, mayor and police.

“What can we do to make a difference here?” he asked.

Smiley said one change that could help the homeless tremendously is if EBT cards could be used as bus passes. That way they could get to jobs, job interviews, recovery appointments, etc. If their picture was on it, too, as identification, that would mean it couldn’t be traded for drugs.

“If they were found frozen somewhere there’d be I.D. on them,” Smiley said.

Smiley, who said he served 13 years in prison, added that people live on the streets for many reasons: drug addiction, mental illness, runaways and so on.

“They just need an environment of support,” he said. “They are fighting each day.”

Just then, a woman came into the church bundled up as if she had come from Alaska. She recognized Smiley, but he didn’t remember her.

“I need your help,” she said, then broke down crying.

He gave her a long hug, put his arm around her, and led her to the tables where she could get help.

Here are the organizations that were there:

•Volunteers of America: Various services

•Salvation Army: Various services

•Worksource: Job hunt.

•Citrine Health: Colon screenings and mamograms.

•Community Health Center: Can serve anyone with dental needs.

•Worksource: Helps homeless veterans, low-income and the disabled.

•Lakeside Milam: Recovery centers.