HOMELESS WOMEN, CHILDREN FIND REFUGE

The Gathering Place Offers Support While Mothers Learn Skills

If Rachel has a distinguishing personality trait, it is that she is not a
quitter.

But when she decided to experiment with crack, that trait sent her life
into a spiral.

"I was a single mother of two and losing the fight of life," she said.

But she turned her life around with help from The Gathering Place, a
Denver-based daytime refuge for homeless women and children.

Jean Iadevito, the center's adult education coordinator, noticed that
Rachel had an interest in computers. So Iadevito helped her channel her
energies toward the keyboard instead of the crack pipe.

Her days of using drugs quickly faded and Rachel is now only two classes
away from completing an associate's degree.

"If there is anything I've learned from The Gathering Place it is that with
small acts of kindness and a little push in the right direction, miracles
can happen," she wrote in a thank-you letter to the center.

The Gathering Place, 1535 High St., is a team of paid staff and volunteers
whose mission is to "support women and their children experiencing
homelessness or poverty by providing daytime refuge and resources for
self-sufficiency."

Whatever the reason for homelessness - unemployment, mental issues and
substance abuse are among the most common - The Gathering Place offers
women the chance to acquire new skills.

The Butterfly Project, for instance, allows women who have never been
employed an opportunity to practice job skills. Each positive experience is
celebrated, giving the women confidence heading into the work world.

"We recognized women in the community who were at the point where they were
ready to start working, but they had no background and no cultural
experience," said Community Relations Manager Terrell Curtis.

"To go out into the work world would be a traumatic experience for them,
and we aid in easing that transition."

Though most who visit The Gathering Place are homeless, 19 percent of last
year's visitors were employed with part-time or full-time jobs. Some women
worked as many as two full-time jobs, but as single parents didn't have the
resources to make it through.

"We provide supplemental needs for whatever can help them save their money
for their bills," Curtis said. "Our advice to them is to take advantage of
every resource available."

Increased funding and donations would allow The Gathering Place to more
thoroughly serve the needs of the less fortunate.

One of the center's most pressing needs is to keep "Betsy's Closet"
stocked. It is an emergency food and supply storage unit that contains
nonperishable food and supplies such as diapers, shampoo, toothpaste and
toiletries.