- October, 2008 -

Usually people who love the House of Charity are very hands-on: cooking meals, giving out socks, listening to life stories. Today was a rare exception. Several people who have been supporters of the House of Charity since its early days, 50 years ago this fall, gathered simply to reminisce and tell stories and argue (charitably, of course) over the details of just how the House of Charity came to be.
 
Tom Pleas, once Associate Director for Catholic Charities, then a volunteer at the House of Charity for several years. Mary Ann Heskett, currently the director of Planned Giving, then the Coordinator of Public Relations, who gave the House of Charity its public face. Ann Cronkhite, chair of the first Poor Man's Meal and an interior designer who, upon noticing the soft, waterlogged floors of the old HOC, got her design associates to gather materials and re-do the floors and walls. Dan Hutchinson, a great director of the HOC before Ed, and Ed's inspiration. Don Wessels, member of the HOC committee, who helped to create brochures, develop mailing lists, and gather donations. Father Skok, who was on the Catholic Charities Board. Yvonne Morin, who was one of the original volunteer nurses at the original HOC medical clinic-and still does it today. Gene DiRe, currently the Associate Director of Catholic Charities, who has been involved with its operations for 21 years. Dr. Arch Logan, who was there to take over at the HOC (after maybe a half-hour training period) when Dr. Shikany retired, and continues to carry out this ministry. Father Frank Bach, once the Director of Catholic Charities, who has been a staunch supporter for decades. And, of course, Ed.
 
Collectively, there were over 300 years of caring experience in the room. What really became apparent as people talked was what a process it was, how many good-hearted people contributed, and how far the HOC has come. The first HOC was a boarding house reminiscent of a warehouse, which had a second floor that Father Bach remembers as "life-threatening." Tom Pleas says, "Their goal was to give men a place to sleep. They did get a kitchen going, but they never got to a sleeping program before we moved to make way for Expo 74."  The next building was a single room where men simply got coffee and a place to shave.  Father Bach remembers the third building at West 9 Main. The first time he saw it he asked, "How long will this building last?" "Five years," was the response. "Okay, good," he said, "let's move in!" Twenty-five years later the HOC finally got a new home.
 
Yvonne Morin, a long-time server of the homeless, says that there was a definite change of attitude with the new building. "In the old building," she remembers, "people would fight in the hall while they waited to see us. There wasn't enough room to fight, but they managed anyhow." Yvonne was knocked down twice and threatened with a knife once. She says the professional atmosphere and great organization of the new HOC preclude that sort of thing. She says that in the old days the lack of resources sometimes made it so rough for the volunteer nurses that there was talk of not carrying on, because it was more than they could do. "But we toughed it out," she says, "and got through those times. The hospital [Sacred Heart Medical Center] was a wonderful support." Dr. Logan too remembered the violence that often brewed in the old building, adding, "Ed keeps a pretty good house. If there's violence at all now, it's-out the door!"
 
Ed remembers being a Jesuit Volunteer in the old building, and how the temperature in the clinic used to get over 100 degrees. "The nurses would send me for ice," he recalls, "and give it out to people in little paper cups."
 
There wasn't enough time to tell all the stories that could be told. What I thought when the session ended was this: The history of the House of Charity is just like that of one of its patrons, or of any person. It had humble beginnings. It's had times when it wasn't clear that it was going to make it. It's changing and growing all the time, though sometimes it doesn't feel like it. It needs the help and support of one-time benefactors and of steady, loyal friends. And it's alive. It's always going to be in a state of transformation-and that's exciting.
 
Please join us on Sunday, October 5th at the House of Charity any time between 10 am and 2 pm at the Poor Man's Meal Open House as we celebrate all the good work that has gone on, and all the good work that will continue to go on, under the banner of the House of Charity.
  
 --Joanie Eppinga, Staff writer
 

 www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org