Trouble for Community Hope Chest
Nonprofit service for women, children losing funding soon
By Anna Sowa / The Bulletin
Published: December 09. 2008 4:00AM PST
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Oxford House shelter resident Cindy Gamber, 44, grins as she holds up a sweater to see if it fits at the Community Hope Chest last month. Gamber and other Central Oregon women use the Community Hope Chest, which operates out of two Storage Solutions units in east Bend, to obtain donated personal and household items they couldn’t otherwise afford. The Hope Chest might lose its home next month when the donor who provides the storage units ceases funding.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Bend resident Amy Homan, 36, looks at purses inside a storage unit that acts as the Community Hope Chest, part of Court Appointed Special Advocates of Central Oregon. The Hope Chest might lose its home next month when the donor who provides the storage units ceases funding.
To help CASA
For more information or to donate to CASA, call 541-389-1618 or visit www.casa ofcentraloregon.org.
On a frigid Saturday morning in late November, Bend resident Amy Homan browsed through a Bend storage unit packed to the ceiling with donated pants, shirts, purses, shoes, tables and anything else someone would need to start a new life.
The small concrete unit is one of two the Community Hope Chest uses, a source of free household and personal items for women and children in Central Oregon who can’t afford them. The Community Hope Chest is part of Court Appointed Special Advocates of Central Oregon, or CASA, a nonprofit that provides judge-appointed trained volunteers who represent the best interests of Central Oregon abused and neglected children in court.
"This is huge; most women who are trying to restart their lives just don’t have anything,” said Homan, a member of the woman’s shelter Oxford House, who said she’d soon move into her own apartment. "I couldn’t have made it without this to help me.”
The Community Hope Chest offers clothing, furniture, bedding, personal hygiene products and other household needs for women in transition. It is less than 2 years old, but a lack of funding is already threatening its future.
Manager Patricia Stoneroad started the Hope Chest in her garage in July 2007 as a way to provide assistance to women and children starting their lives over, often with no money and few belongings. She saw limited options for similar services in the region and knew that most women coming from shelters can’t afford thrift-store goods.
The primary focus, she said, is helping their children.
The Hope Chest has aided 70 families so far, Stoneroad said. Since Oct. 20, she’s received 50 requests for child and adult coats. In the past two weeks, she’s had requests for four box springs and mattresses, one request of many that she can’t fill.
"Our main focus is to offer gently used items that (families) need in order to have a comfortable and safe home that they are proud of,” Stoneroad said. "There are not many resources in town where they can come and ask for items, free of charge.”
Many women who are in recovery from drug or alcohol abuse have burned bridges with family and friends, so they have nowhere to turn for help when they need it. Additionally, many lose their belongings in storage units they can’t afford or were couch-surfing with no belongings.
"When people are ready to re-start, they want a new chance with their kids and their family,” she said. "With the cost of rent in Central Oregon, maybe they can afford a place to rent, but it’s hard to get anything else that they need.”
Stoneroad recently gained the help of local consignment store Elite Repeat, which sends her some unsold merchandise, great for teens and adults who want both professional and casual clothing.
"Our things are in such good shape, they help girls who need clothes for school or who are going out for job interviews,” said Sheila Campbell, co-owner of Elite Repeat. "We wanted people in our community to benefit from the clothes.”
The last month
Four months after Stoneroad started the Hope Chest, it got too big for her home and she moved it to Storage Solutions in northeast Bend, provided by an anonymous donor.
For undisclosed reasons, that donation will end in January, and Stoneroad says she doesn’t know what she’ll do then.
For the size of spaces Stoneroad needs, it would cost $235 per month to rent the two spaces at Storage Solutions.
"I’ve lost sleep over this,” Stoneroad said. "We really need a community partner or private individual to help us.”
She said the holidays create other financial demands on people who may otherwise donate to nonprofits like hers. Still, she’s hoping someone will either donate money or even offer a large garage for the purpose.
If she doesn’t secure a new home for the Hope Chest by January, the organization won’t be able to serve people who have few other options.
Back at Storage Solutions, Bend resident Cindy Gamber looked for clothes with her teenage daughter.
Gamber wore a winter jacket she found and stuffed a pile of other clothes into a plastic bag. Some of those included her church choir outfit.
"This (service) is awesome because I just lost my job,” Gamber said. "I don’t have money for new clothes for me or my daughter.”
Anna Sowa can be reached at 541-383-0304 or asowa@bendbulletin.com.
Published Daily in Bend Oregon by Western Communications, Inc. © 2008
