A Visit to Colville - The Hope Street Restoration
Inspirational - with photos!
Thanks to the efforts of Suzi Hokonson, a number of us including my friends Julie Garcia and Jerry LeClaire, drove up to Colville to visit Dr. Barry Bacon and his wife Shelly, along with a number of folks volunteering/working with them on their Hope Street organizations:
Hope Street Project - has three small rentals and one rental home that houses previously homeless people
Hope Street Restoration - provides jobs for homeless people to help restore homes which are then sold to provide funding for not only the next home project, but also to fund other projects
Hope Street Rest Stop - a place where homeless can get showers and do laundry, as well as get a meal and just sit and relax for a while
We met at the Heartland Medical Colville Clinic (future meetups will be at the Yep Kanum city park), and after a brief orientation we went together to their big work-in-progress, a home they are renovating for the Hope Street Restoration project. An amazing old home that was at different points in the past a teachers’ dormitory, a hospital, and a nursing home, among others.
Shelly explained the details of the restoration, while a couple of the employed homeless folks kept working away around us.
Barry then took us to the Hope Street Rest Stop, a place much like Jewel’s Helping Hands day center here in Spokane, and we met the director and several of those resting and doing their laundry, etc. Meals are provided, and in addition, 5 local churches offer free lunches every day of the week. They are looking for 2 more churches to round out the weekend.
Next door was Patrick’s place - another older building they are remodeling into housing and named in honor of Barry and Shelly’s son, Patrick Bacon.
Finally, we followed Barry to a site on a hill above the Walmart, where they have purchased land and are planning on building a number of low income dwellings.
We then met back at Yep Kanum park for a lovely lunch and a chance to discuss our experiences and ask questions of Dr. Bacon and several of the employees, Colville residents who are currently experiencing homelessness.
Suzi Hokonson <suzihokonson@yahoo.com> is organizing more visits for those who are interested in experiencing this wonderful organization that shows the brighter side of helping our homeless folks.
They will be Wednesday Thursday and Friday, July 12th 13th and 14th, at 9:15 AM.
Meet at the Yep Kanum city park on the corner of Hawthorn and Elm.
A free sandwich lunch will be served at the park at 11:30.
