Samaritan House "Reach Around" Concert Series Presents Terry Hill

Terry Hill, a long time friend of Samaritan House and well known musician of the Flathead Valley will be the featured artist in this month's fourth friday concert series.
Why go out to lunch when you could come have lunch with us, hear some good live music and support your local homeless shelter?
Here are the details:

Friday, March 25th

Noon - 1:30 pm

Samaritan House Administrative Center

1110 2nd St West

Kalispell, Montana

(the former Army Reserve Center on the corner of Meridian Rd & 2nd St W)

tickets are $10 and include lunch and the concert

4th Annual "Cowboy Up" for Samaritan House Event - April 30th

It is that time of the year again to help Samaritan House meet the challenge of homelessness in Northwest Montana and have fun doing it. The 4th Annual "Cowboy Up" benefit dinner concert and auction will be held on April 30th at Gardner Auction Service, on Highway 93 South, behind Mergenthaler's.
Tickets for the benefit at $30 each will include a pig roast dinner, live and silent auction, ticket holder raffle and live music from the Smart Alex. Beer and Wine will be available for purchase. Doors open at 5:00 pm, dinner begins at 5:30 pm, the live auction begins at 6:00 pm and the music begins at 7:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the door or at Samaritan House, 1110 2nd Streeet West in Kalispell, Montana (406) 257-5284.
Samaritan House is one of Montana's few homeless shelters. It provides a Transitional Housing program with Case Management services, a kitchen and cafeteria and a broad range of services and supports to help break the cycle of homelessness. In 2010, Samaritan House served over 1,180 local homeless people and provided more than 26,000 meals in the cafeteria.
Smart Alex is a four-piece band with over 134 years of combined musical performance experience. They play a wide variety of music including classic rock, swing and country.

Open House on Wednesday, March 2nd

Samaritan House will be requesting a Conditional Use Permit and would like input from our neighbors and Parents of Peterson Elementary School Students. To help with this process Samaritan House will be hosting an Open House event at the Samaritan House Administrative Center (pictured above) on Wednesday, March 2nd. The Open House will begin at 5:30 and go until 7:00 pm. There will be a brief presentation at 5:30 with a Q & A to follow. Light refreshments and tours will be available.

Open House at Samaritan House Administrative Center

Wednesday, March 2nd

5:30 - 7:00 pm with a brief presentation at 5:30 pm

1110 2nd St West

Kalispell, MT 59901

In brief here are some details of what the Conditional Use Permit will be asking for:

• Office Space for Samaritan House Administration. Acquiring this building has made it possible for Samaritan House to add 11 new beds to the shelter location at 124 9th Ave W.
• Tutoring Program. Children in homeless families often find it difficult to remain current with school work. This tutoring program will offer a consistent time and place to get this necessary help. Samaritan House Tutoring is done by Mrs. Barb Peterson, a retired school teacher from Peterson Elementary School.
• GED and Tele-Medical Services. A full GED study curriculum will be available with the help of Literacy Volunteers to assist a client in preparation for taking the GED test. Tele-Medical Services will make it possible for clients to speak with their doctors and counselors where they are and make this care more accessible.
• Dental and Medical Clinic for clients in need of affordable care.
• Food, Clothing and Furniture Pantries will receive donated items and in turn give these items to clients who need them at no charge to the client.
• Kitchen and Cafeteria for Samaritan House clients only. Meal times are:

Breakfast 7:00 - 8:00 am

Lunch Noon - 1:00 pm

Dinner 6:00 - 7:00 pm

Other important things to know about Samaritan House programs:

• Samaritan House does not serve Sex Offenders, Violent Offenders or sometimes even anyone with a felony of an aggresive nature.
• Samaritan House facilities are well staffed. Every meal time has a distinct start time and stop time.
• Every person at Samaritan House is working with Samaritan House Case Management.
• Samaritan House sees great success with its clients. Client outcomes are as follows:

- 86% have a greater permanency in housing upon discharge.

- 90% see an increase in their income or skill level upon discharge.

- 100% have a greate sense of self-determination upon discharge.

• The Annual Homeless Survey for Flathead County consistently shows around 483 homeless people. This makes Samaritan House only 18% of what is needed to properly address this areas homelessness issue.
• In 2010, Samaritan House turned away 803 local homeless people. This represents 24,090 bed nights (803 x 30 days average length of stay = 24,090).
• Samaritan House clients have lived in Flathead County an average of 5 years, they are local people, neighbors, relatives and co-workers.
• Moving services to the Samaritan House Administrative Center will provide for space to create additional beds at the original shelter location. This will directly help us more adequately address the growing issue of homelessness in Flathead County.
• The Conditional Use Permit for this plan will state that Samaritan House is requesting "Homeless Shelter" simply because that is the category title. There are no beds requested in the application. The facility will also not be a "day shelter" or "hang out". Samaritan House is requesting homeless shelter with the restriction that there be no beds at the facility. "Homeless Shelter" with no shelter aspect.

Samaritan House Fourth Friday Lunch & Concert - John Dunnigan

John Dunnigan will be February's featured artist for the Samaritan House Fourth Friday Lunch & Concert Series. The event is a fundraiser for Samaritan House, a homeless shelter in Kalispell. The $10 ticket includes lunch,soup, salad, dessert and more...
John Dunnigan is a Musician, Songwriter, Entertainer, Baseball Coach, Pancake Maker, Lawn Mower and a very funny man.
He has been fortunate to play music for a living almost his entire life. Pick any stringed instrument and odds are he can pick it - guitar, banjo, pedal steel. He also blows a mean harp. For more about John you can visit his site here.
Here are the details about the event:
Who: John Dunnigan
What: Samaritan House Fourth Friday Lunch & Concert Series
Where: Samaritan House Admin Building
1110 2nd St West
Kalispell, MT 59901
(the former US Army Reserve Center on the corner of Meridian Rd & 2nd St., across the street from Peterson Elementary School.)
When: Friday, February 25th, Noon-1:30 pm.

Find John Dunnigan of Facebook here.

Find Samaritan House on Facebook here.

Christmas at the Shelter

(Santa visits the kids at Samaritan House)

(Pastor Dan Heskett of Northridge Lutheran Church delivers gifts from their Giving Tree)

(Rob Quist entertains the crowd at the fundraiser luncheon)

This is a very heartwarming time at Samaritan House. Several people, businesses and churches have given presents for our shelter guests. Everyone here will be getting presents directly because of the generosity of the community. Many of the children were not expecting much of a Christmas this year, much less a real Santa. When a child sees the words "From Santa" on a gift, it seems to give them hope.
Likewise for Samaritan House itself this is a very heartwarming time of year. Charitable donations are how Samaritan House is able to operate the homeless shelter throughout the year. Most of those charitable donations arrive in the last few weeks of the year. To make donating even more accessible we also offer online giving.

Samaritan House would like to express our heartfelt gratitude and deep appreciation for your continued support of the people that mean so much to us.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

Montana Homeless Person's Memorial Day is December 21st. This also happens to be the first day of winter - the longest night of the year. There will be a memorial service at noon in Helena Women's Park. Sherri Downing from the Montana Coalition for the Homeless has collected the names of Montana's friends and neighbors who have died this year while homeless. Last year, there were 28 names. The event lasts about an hour and is held outside so people can understand what some of our neighbors are trying to survive. It has been a quick start to the winter season this year. In fact, the Daily InterLake reported last week that precipitation for the year is 19.96 inches, 3.71 inches ahead of the long term average and 6.76 inches ahead of last year. I verified myself with the National Weather Service that this year has averaged 2.3 degrees colder than normal. Samaritan House staff have added beds wherever possible resulting in greater numbers of people served than we could have imagined for this year.

We are coming in to the holidays in need of your help. Charitable donations are down while demand for services are at an all-time high.

In your holiday giving would you please consider Samaritan House. Thank you.

A Home of Their Own

Kristi Albertson, a reporter for the Daily InterLake newspaper just did an article about a family that Samaritan House was recently privileged to help.

The article is called, "A Home of Their Own" and it follows this family through the shelter and on towards their move in day, the day they get a home of their own...