Feature: Christmas Without A Home

Christmas Without a Home

By Karilea Rilling Jungel

 

Christmas is a festive, multi-colored, golden and silver holiday for many. There are the scents of homemade cookies, candies and trimmed pine trees wafting through the air. Varied meats, be they turkey, ham or pork…are a treat for the senses! There are the sounds of stories by grandma or grandpa, or video games being played one more time before new toys and games arrive via a cold carriage ride by a man in a furry red and white suit. Our memories are alive with such recollections…and nearly every young child delights in the arrival of Ol’ Saint Nick.

But…crises sometimes arise beyond one’s control. Maybe it is a house fire. Maybe it is health issues. A poor economy and misplaced trust in financial plans can lead to the loss of a home in several ways. Maybe it is a family who had a need to move from one place to another to look for work, and their car broke down. Several issues can turn the joy of Christmas into a cold, disheartening, miserable time of year.

However, and fortunately for our area and the surrounding countryside, there is a place like Ashby House. I spoke with Bryan Anderson about how Ashby House, and particularly at this time of year, helps many get through their crises at Christmas and throughout the year.

photo - Ashby House personnel

He recalled a time when “a transient family came through town on Christmas Eve, an ‘intact’ family being mom, dad and two children all together. They had no money, and were temporarily stranded. Even worse, they were from a southern area so were in clothing not suitable for the harsher temperatures of the area. But,” Bryan continues, “You know, Santa always finds the kids. Although the parents had no preparations for Christmas, we were able to contact our network by reaching out to our community partners. We were able to provide Christmas for the family in the form of clothing, food, and even though they only stayed a couple of days, we were able to send some food along with them to reach their destination.”

Ashby House also helps with substance abuse, providing treatment, time and proper encouragement. Bryan provides a second story on substance abuse and reconciliation.

“We help reconcile families. We worked with a single mom in her early 20’s one year through November and December, with treatment for her addiction. We helped take care of a lot of her legal problems and things were beginning to stabilize for her. She was separated from her six year old daughter but we learned a week before Christmas that the Foster Care agency was going to let her daughter come spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with her. Then she panicked – she had no money and felt there was nothing for her to make her daughter’s Christmas ‘special’. We here at Ashby House do Christmas up in a big way with a big dinner, so we were able to have the Mom make a Christmas list and then, through some of our community members, Christmas gifts were purchased for the child and it was just incredible to see. All Mom wanted to do was to provide some kind of Christmas to that child. We were able to help her to do that.” But the Christmas spirit continued: “That day made a huge difference. She continued visitation with her daughter, and they built a stronger relationship. Finally she was able to reclaim custody of her daughter. We stay in touch with them, and they are doing pretty well today. This kind of outcome is what keeps our staff going – positive outcomes.”

photo - Ashby House personnel

This Time of Year

At this time of year, many people spiral, usually on a downward slope. “Climbing back up – is hard. We can’t hide the negative, but we try to emphasize the positive.”

Bryan shared that this year’s early cold snap depleted their supplies of warm clothes and items necessary to help see people through the winter. I asked Bryan if he had a Christmas wish list for Santa to fill, what would be on it?

 “Non gender educational toys and books for ages newborn to five years. Items like Lego’s and games are easy to share among the children. If some of the presents are not used at Christmas, we then use them for children’s birthdays. Socks, underwear, scarves and hats are welcome for all ages, even adults. We have a lot of women who knit and embroider mittens and scarves. We rely on them.”

Because Ashby House operates as a shelter for the northwestern portion of Kansas [from west of I-135 and north of I-70] the demands for items are great. They serve anywhere from 40-50 people a day. They see some 600 new faces a year. Items can be dropped off at 150 South 8^th Street [Ashby House], which is open 24 hours a day or across the street at 153 South 8^th Street [Bridge House] which operates under normal office hours. If you are unsure about items that can be donated, call Ashby house at 785-826-4935, or check their website at http://www.ashbyhouse.org/ . 

If your children are grown and have all they need, maybe this is the year that you might want to donate articles and items in their name to Ashby House. A person in need may well be warmed and comforted by your thoughtfulness. 

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