homeless in the flathead

homeless in the flathead... let me start by saying everyone has a story, some are good and some aren't... regardless all are precious and should know that. This might have a lot to do with the homeless shelter I run, Samaritan House...

Homelessness can happen for a lot of different reasons. In the Flathead Valley of Northwestern Montana it is hard to imagine that in such a beautiful setting that there would be homelessness. Samaritan House serves nearly 1,500 homeless people every year. In fact, every bed has been full every year since 2002. The "Turn Away" list shows that 545 people were turned away in 2007. Most of the people served at the shelter have had some sort of financial hardship that led to their homelessness. A very small percentage of the people served at Samaritan House's shelter are what would be considered "chroniclly homeless" according to HUD's definition.
As I mentioned the Flathead Valley is a beautiful place. Glacier Park is truly the "Crown of the Continent" as they say. In the Summer I enjoy Flathead Lake and the best fly fishing around. In the winter I sneak away to Whitefish Mountain Resort any chance I can get to enjoy snowboarding with my children. All of this leads to high priced housing and difficulty finding a job that pays well enough. I've overheard it said more than once, "You can't eat the scenery." If you could... well.
Samaritan House offers shelter, transitional and permanent housing, case management services, kitchen and cafeteria and much more. Staff there are always scheming more ways to help.
In my spare time, (besides the fishing, hunting and snowboarding) I play bass guitar for a number of settings. Mostly I play for Rob Quist and the Great Northern. You may hear about them every once in a while. Rob is a great guy, great musician and will likely go down as a legendary Montanan.

For now...