EDITOR’S NOTE: For 22 years, Peninsula Daily News readers in Jefferson and Clallam counties have supported the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
Today, we feature the first in a series of articles on how the fund operates and who benefits from our readers’ generosity.
More information about the Home Fund will appear Wednesday.
By Tim Hockett
For Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — “My world ended on Dec. 23, 2010,” says Darren Melander.
It was that day that he hit bottom and was asked to leave a relationship and his home.
He went on to face the reality of living on the streets with nothing more than a backpack of clothes.
He readily admits that alcoholism had essentially destroyed his life.
He hit bottom on that cold, dreary December day — but one could also say he started over on that day, too.
Darren had developed a number of skills.
He was trained as a welder and as a heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, technician.
He learned how to cook and even studied culinary arts.
For relaxation, he played guitar and worked out at a local gym.
He was a strong man, and he gravitated to jobs that required strength.
In November 2005, Darren fell from a house where he was working on an HVAC system and was seriously injured.
He underwent back surgery — but never really recovered.
“My doctor said, ‘Hang up your boots and toolbelt because you’ll never do that kind of work again,’” he recalled.
Despite being classified as disabled, Darren got on his feet and went back to school to learn a new trade that wouldn’t weigh so heavily on his body.
He took classes to become a medical assistant.
He found most of the classes very interesting — “but I couldn’t handle the math side of things, the accounting; it’s just not me.”
He decided to try another trade — but that move turned out to be a big mistake.
“I went commercial fishing,” he recalled as he rolled his eyes, “and it was just too much; it actually crippled me up further.
“That’s when I started drinking a lot.”
“Fishermen tend to work hard and play hard” said Darren, “and I joined in and began to drink way too much.
Also, he added, “I was in so much pain that if I stepped off the curb wrong, I’d fall down.
“So I drank and drank. I became someone you don’t want to be around — and I finally hit bottom.”
After Darren hit the streets, he made his way to Serenity House.
“Thanks to their help providing shelter and a way toward sobriety, I was able to become — and remain — sober.”
The Street Outreach Shelter housed him for quite some time, and Darren began to work on putting his life back together.
He is effusive in his praise of people at the shelter, at the local drug court, of his friends and supporters from Alcoholics Anonymous and the agencies that pulled together to help him get on his feet.
Darren began to check in regularly with the Port Angeles Housing Resource Center.
He was told of a place where he might be able to get a room that was subsidized and also access the kind of support and services he needed.
“The HRC told me about this housing opportunity where I’d find a supportive atmosphere and a warm, safe place,” he said.
“I was so anxious to be able to move in.
“While staying at a shelter is helpful, you still are on the streets 14 hours a day. I longed for a place of my own.”
He waited for an opening for 21⁄2 months. And then the day arrived.
He was excited but then faced a barrier of $200 to have a deposit to move in.
“The HRC referred me to OlyCAP,” he added.
OlyCAP is nonprofit Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency-care agency in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
It also screens the applicants for the Peninsula Daily News’ “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund and distributes the funds.
Darren came to OlyCAP needing help with his deposit and some help with transportation.
Lynn Fox, OlyCAP volunteer extraordinaire, got him both with the community’s help — she drew upon the Home Fund.
With that assistance, Darren was able to move into a stable living situation.
He resides there now and is happily on this way back to self-sufficiency.
Darren now volunteers at the Salvation Army and is determined to continue on the road to full recovery.
“I love it there; it makes me feel like I’m contributing,” he said.
He has a part-time job through the holidays and is intent on returning to college to fine-tune his education in his first love: music.
“I already teach guitar to some people for free.
“I find it enjoyable and not hard on my body.
“I also barter with someone and exchange guitar lessons for piano lessons.”
Darren is eager to thank all those who have helped him.
He names off folks from Serenity House, the Housing Resource Center, OlyCAP, the Salvation Army and the YMCA who have all offered a strong hand up.
The Peninsula Home Fund provided a key piece in stabilizing his life.
“I love this community,” he said.
“I feel more connected than ever, and I am determined to give back in some way.
“It will probably take the form of music, which I find to be a wonderful way of communication.
“I am incredibly grateful.”
Fundraising campaign
The PDN’s Peninsula Home Fund — a safety net for local residents when there is nowhere else to turn — is seeking contributions for its annual holiday season fundraising campaign that runs from Thanksgiving through Dec. 31.
From Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to Sequim and LaPush, the Home Fund is a “hand up, not a handout” for children, teens, families and the elderly to get through an emergency situation.
Money from the Home Fund goes for hot meals for seniors, meeting rent, energy and transportation needs, warm winter coats for kids, home repairs for the low-income, needed eyeglasses and prescription drugs, dental work, safe and drug-free temporary housing . . .
The list goes on and on.
Begun in 1989, the Home Fund is supported entirely by Jefferson and Clallam residents.
Individuals, couples, families, couples, businesses, churches, service organizations and school groups set a record for contributions in 2010 — $248,367.35.
With heavy demand this year, the carefully rationed fund is being rapidly depleted.
Since Jan. 1, the Home Fund has helped more than 2,160 households — almost 4,750 individuals like Darren Melander on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Money almost gone
As we move into winter, the toughest period of the year, all of the money collected in 2010 is expected to be exhausted by Dec. 31.
The Peninsula Home Fund is a unique nonprofit program:
■ No money is deducted by the Peninsula Daily News for administration fees or any other overhead.
Every penny goes to OlyCAP to help the most vulnerable members of our community, from infants to families to seniors.
PLEASE NOTE: Because of the extraordinary demand experienced by OlyCAP in 2011 — and plummeting cutbacks in grants and government support — for the first time in the 22-year history of the Home Fund, OlyCAP will use a portion of the fund in 2012 to pay for the helping hands who see clients.
The amount will be limited to 10 cents of every dollar donated.
The fund is not set up to hand out money passively.
OlyCAP can no longer absorb the costs of managing all the facets of the Home Fund — screening applicants, providing counseling and carefully disbursing the funds — without financial assistance.
It must tap a small portion of the fund as tough times compound the challenges it faces to help those in need.
■ The Home Fund is not a welfare program.
Assistance, which usually averages less than $100, is also limited to one time in a 12-month period.
The average amount of help this year was about $95 per family.
As needed, Peninsula Home Fund donations are also used in conjunction with money from churches, service clubs and other donors, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of the contribution.
The Home Fund staff’s most important goal is to get the individual or family through a crisis and back on the path of self-sufficiency.
Whenever possible, case managers work with each individual or family to develop a plan to become financially stable — and avoid a recurrence of the emergency that prompted aid from the fund.
The goal again: “a hand up, not a handout.”
■ All contributions are fully IRS tax-deductible for the year in which a check is written.
■ Your personal information is kept confidential.
The PDN does not rent, sell, give or otherwise share your address or other information with anyone or make any other use of it.
Applying for a grant
To apply for a Peninsula Home Fund grant, phone OlyCAP at 360-452-4726 (Clallam County) or 360-385-2571 (Jefferson County).
■ OlyCAP’s Port Angeles office is at 228 W. First St., Suite J (Armory Square Mall); 360-452-4726.
■ Its Port Townsend office is at 803 W. Park Ave.; 360-385-2571.
■ The Forks/West End office is at 91 Maple Ave.; 360-374-6193.
OlyCAP’s website: www.olycap.org; email: action@olycap.org.
If you have any questions about the fund, phone John Brewer, Peninsula Daily News editor and publisher, at 360-417-3500.
Or email him at john.brewer@peninsuladailynews.com.
The Peninsula Daily News publishes the donation coupon and information about the fund every Sunday and Wednesday during the fundraising campaign.
Contributions so far
We’ve gotten a running start on this year’s holiday season fundraising campaign.
A number of generous individuals and organizations have been donating money to the Peninsula Home Fund since the first of the year.
While most of the money is raised between Thanksgiving and Dec. 31, the fund itself never closes.
Donations of any amount are always welcome.
Here is a list of donors whose contributions were received between last Jan. 1 and Nov. 23 — thank you very much for making a difference in the lives — and futures — of your neighbors like Darren Melander:
■ Thomas L. and Kathryn R. Lawrence, Sequim — $100.
■ Helene Smith, Sequim — $100.
■ Second Saturday Club, Sequim — $100. We’re a small group of women that meets monthly to contribute to a charity. We are touched by the success of the Peninsula Home Fund.
■ Just Dolls of Washington, Port Angeles — $350.
■ Proceeds from Andrew May’s Peninsula Daily News Garden Bus Tour to the 2011 Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle— $500.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested that the amount of their donation be kept private):
■ James R. McPherson, Port Angeles.
■ Rod and Mary Harp, Sequim.
■ Terry and Cleone Telling, Quilcene. In memory of Donita Blacker.
■ Mary and Cullen Kelsoe, Port Angeles. In memory of Donald Boyd.
■ Pat Norton, Port Angeles.
■ Mr. and Mrs. Evan Evanoff, Sequim.
■ Donald and Colleen Daley, Port Angeles.
■ Ramona Burdick, Port Angeles.
■ Charles and Barbara Thompson, Sequim.
■ Ake and Siv Almgren, Sequim (with matching corporate donation from PJM Interconnection LLC).
■ Robert and Jean Pfeiffer, Port Townsend.
■ Helen and Jerry Freilich, Port Angeles.
■ Edward Dougherty and Kathy Snyder, Port Angeles. In honor of Betty Matthews.
■ Sara and Mike Miller, Port Townsend.
■ Vaughn and Sherry Shamp, Port Angeles.
■ Joe Paulsen, Port Angeles.
■ Steve and Lucy Nordwell, Port Angeles. In memory of Bob Kennedy.
■ Mrs. William J. Dabel, Orinda, Calif.
■ Tom and Joyce LaMure, Sequim.
■ Mount Pleasant Homemakers, Port Angeles. In honor of Matilda McCord.
■ Lorraine Trathen, Port Angeles. In memory of Raymond Trathen Sr.
■ B.J. VanAusdle, Port Angeles. In honor of Kurhajetz family and Ninth and E Street neighbors.
■ Nadine Fuller, Forks.
■ Barbara L. Townsend, Port Angeles. In memory of MaryAnn McFarland.
■ George H. Bergner, Sequim. In memoriam to Franklin Earl and his big kitchen in the sky.
■ Dr. Robert H. and Barbara J. Houtz, Port Angeles.
■ Jennifer Helpenstell, Seattle. In honor of John and Merelene Helpenstell.
■ Ray Nason, Port Angeles.
■ Diane Bergman, Port Angeles.
■ Paul Richmond, Port Angeles.
■ Joe Cammack, Port Angeles.
■ Jim and Mary Kreider, Port Angeles. In honor of Jerry and Sonja Wahto. They show by their example the importance of giving to their neighbors.
■ Judith Coleman, Sequim.
■ Estes Builder, Sequim (drawing donation).
■ Eddie and Beatrice Temple, Sequim. Thank you for the work you do to help others! God bless!
■ Olympic Springs, Carlsborg.
■ Angelo and Brenda Spandrio, Sequim.
■ Linda and Bertha Norris, Port Angeles.
■ D. Jean Lodeen, Port Angeles.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested anonymity):
■ Port Angeles — $100.
■ Port Angeles — $100.
■ Sequim — $200.
■ Port Angeles — $10. In honor of Vi Johnson.
■ Port Townsend — $25.
■ Port Angeles — $100.
■ Port Angeles — $100.
■ Sequim — $200.
■ Port Angeles — $50.
■ Sequim — $200.
■ Port Angeles — $25.
■ Sequim — $50. In memory of Len.
■ Sequim — $200.
■ Sequim — $50.
■ Sekiu — $100.
■ Sequim — $25.
■ Port Angeles — $350.
■ Port Angeles — $350.
■ Sequim — $50.
■ Sequim — $750.
■ Port Angeles — $10. In memory of our parents, Swenson and Clark.
■ Port Angeles — $10. In memory of our parents, Swenson and Clark.
■ Port Angeles — $20.
■ Sequim — $49.
■ Port Angeles — $5.
■ Port Angeles — $30.
■ Port Angeles — $10. In memory of our parents, Swenson and Clark.
■ Port Angeles — $50.
■ Port Angeles — $20. Cash found at Walgreens (September 2011). Someone who needs it will get its use.
_________
HANDWRITING CAN BE hard to decipher at times.
Please report any errors in this list to John Brewer, 360-417-3500 (there’s voice mail if he’s away), or email him at john.brewer@peninsuladailynews.com.
We’ll rerun the listing correctly.
Our sincerest appreciation again to our donors.
