This week God brought us…”Jessie”, who arrived at the door without shoes. He set a few belongings down in the entryway and then came in to ask for clothing, especially shoes. We had a regular volunteer in the building that afternoon helping to sort through the many donations we receive. She asked him what items and what sizes he needed and then went to check our supplies. While she looked, Jessie wandered around the building. It quickly became apparent that Jessie was un

This week God brought us... ”Lena”, with a complex situation that illustrates how easy it is to slip into poverty. Lena came to the U.S. four years ago from Ukraine after the Russian invasion. She has Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and a work authorization permit. Her English was good for someone who’d been speaking it for only a few years. She went to lengths to explain that she had not accessed public benefits after her first months in the U.S., that she worked two jobs a

This week God brought us…”Erma.” At 93, she speaks slowly and purposefully. She lives with her son in a home infested with black mold. It’s so bad that the City has intervened and Erma and her son will have to find another place to live. Our staff sat patiently with her in the lobby to help her complete an application for our senior housing properties. When the application asked how many states she had lived in, there wasn’t enough space to list them all, as her father had be

This week God brought us... "Kevin", with a story about looking for housing. He had held a good job and was more than self-sufficient before a severe accident led to a new reality of medical care and seemingly endless surgeries to repair the damage. He explained that he and his family would have to leave their current home in two months' time. Where would they live then? I described our different programs, highlighted housing sections in the community resource guide, and sha

This week God brought us... ”Janelle”, thanks to the good work of one of our care coordinator staff. A colleague alerted her to Janelle, who was in the hospital after living in deplorable conditions in a unit with no water. She had recently lost her mother and was struggling to cope. At the hospital she thought she would be treated for a small infection in her foot which she had not been able to care for properly since she had no water. Instead she was told that the wound ha

This week God brought us…”Megan” and “Josh”, a young married couple with six children. They have been served by the agency a few times in recent years. They came this week because their home is being heat-treated for bedbugs. Unfortunately, bedbugs are an issue for many of the folks we work with and the costs can be prohibitive. Megan and Josh already had the heat treatment scheduled, but it meant they would need to vacate their home for two days. Wisely, they had already ar

This week God brought us... Hayden, Angie, Travis, Carl, Rick, Heather and Duane”, all of whom approached us for help this past week to put some gas in their cars. Each and every one of them is experiencing homelessness and living in their vehicles. Angie drives a large truck hauling a large travel trailer behind it. Heather has bright eyes and a polite manner, she is in her 30s and lives in a small SUV with her mother. Rick broke down in tears at our front desk, overwhel

This week God brought us Herb, looking for help to keep his electricity on. Herb is 82 and lives by himself. He keeps a part-time job in order to afford his medications and incontinence supplies. Lately, though, he’s been sick and unable to work those hours to supplement his income. He made a partial payment on his utility bill and found help through us and another local social service organization to keep his power connected. Herb is a stand-in for hundreds of households i

Along with their teenage son, they were displaced when a tree fell on their apartment during a December windstorm, rendering it uninhabitable. After receiving short-term help from the Red Cross and various friends, they found a room in a modest hotel while they recovered and sorted out their next steps. This consumed almost all of their own resources. Cindy receives disability income and Tom was not able to continue working while moving the household and trying to recover bel

”Tracy”, who was referred by our Rapid ReHousing program. RRH has been working with Tracy for a while and our staffer praised Tracy’s efforts to stabilize her family – including 3 children – after some time at the YWCA shelter when she left an abusive relationship last year. Because of her previous instability, Tracy had not been receiving her mail reliably, which included her municipal water/sewer/garbage bills. When the water at the apartment RRH had helped her find was an

Danny is from rural central Washington and was referred to us by a local utility company. When we reached Danny, he was in Spokane with his wife and elementary-school age daughter, who is receiving treatment for leukemia. There are three other minor children in the home. The utility company affirmed that Danny and his wife had an excellent payment history until just recently, as the obligations for traveling away from home and from work for their daughter’s critical care too

”Ron”, who was referred by a long-time partner at Spokane County Community Services. They don’t call often, so when they do, we hustle to respond. They are working with Ron to get him moved into housing in Spokane Valley. Ron’s Chevy Suburban had run out of gas at the apartment building he’s moving to. We’ve seen Ron a handful of times over the past five years, always for small amounts of gas help. Ron brings a history of incarceration and ticks many of the other boxes in ou

”Pauline”, who moved gingerly and with care as she came in the door. She knows about our Street Outreach team and is currently staying in a respite bed at Hope House. Pauline is tall, but somewhat stooped, with a gray braid down her back. She was hoping for a wagon to be able to move her belongings, having been told by someone she ran into on the street who had such a wagon that our Street Outreach program was the reliable source for such items so she came to be connected to

She came in the door on a Monday morning, dressed for her first day of a new job at Safeway. She had been working in a medical setting, but was also taking college courses toward a degree. Her class schedule and work schedule were not compatible and the employer let her go, so even though she had quickly found new employment, she was behind on rent and had a notice. Tanya grew up in Spokane, but left in 1999 for Florida with her husband. Now a widow, she returned in mid-2024.

”Violeta”, who came with a notice for December’s rent. She is from Venezuela and her husband was recently detained by federal authorities and we believe is in removal proceedings. He was the wage-earner for the household, which includes a 10-year-old daughter. The property manager was pleased that Violeta is receiving assistance, confirming that the family have been good renters for over a year. Violeta has applied for asylum and as part of that process just received her work

“Anne” approached looking for help making her whole on November’s rent. Anne is in her 60s and lost her husband in early summer. She lives in affordable housing at the north end of Spokane, but without her husband’s income, she is heavily rent burdened and has spent around 90% of her income to cover the rent lately while she applies to have her rent adjusted based on the change of income. She had documentation to corroborate this timeline. Anne still works a handful of ho