John Moffat introduced speaker Ashley Buerger and Mary Humphries, from Road2Home.

 

Doug Cole introduced future member, George Halsell

 

President Doug presented a very moving Rotary Member Moment by providing a look back on his time as a Big Brother in the Whatcom County Big Brother program.
Twenty years ago, Doug was introduced to the Big Brother Program through a presentation at Rotary. Dick Tucker and Joe Coons had been involved. Doug talked about the three “little brothers” he mentored over his years as a Big Brother. (He changed the names to protect their identity.)

“Gabe”:

Doug said he "came on with a big head of steam", but quickly realized that he needed to park his high expectations at the door. He soon learned that all three of his little brothers were being cared for by single moms, with no father figures in their lives.
Doug was first introduced to Gabe about a month after 9/11 and the terror event became a topic of conversation. They would meet about once a week, either sharing a meal or sailing or going on field expeditions. Other Rotary members supported the field expeditions, with Doug and Gabe taking tours of Morse Steel (Bob Morse), Blythe Plumbing (D.C. Morse), and WWU (Karen Morse). Ken Culver game a tour of his 120 year old Victorian home, Tim Farris took him flying, and more. Doug and Gabe worked at rebuilding a bicycle. At one point, Doug took Gabe on a tour of the
Lighthouse Mission. After the tour, Doug asked Gabe what he thought. Gabe responded, “I thought I might meet my Dad.” Doug sadly reported that, years later, while still very young, Gabe got his girlfriend pregnant.

 

"Tyler":

Tyler was Doug’s second little brother. Like Gabe, he had no adult male in his life. He was quiet and withdrawn. Doug took him under his wing to expose him to new areas of learning and life, including sailing, flying and more. At one point, Tyler's mom  kicked him out of the home and he lived with Doug and wife Margie for about two months before reconciling with his mom. Doug, as an airline pilot, would come back
from flying trips and realized the exhausting work Margie was putting into caring for a troubled boy. Tyler eventually graduated from high school and earned a scholarship to BTC. 

"Malakai":
Malakai was Doug’s third and final little brother. He was much younger than the other two. He was into playing video games, helped rebuild a bike and went flying with Doug. In high school, Malakai participated in a military camp, did well and finished high school. However, he hasn’t done much since.

 

Close:
In a final comment, Doug said none of the boys thanked him when they parted ways. Then, about one year ago, Gabe, whom he hadn’t seen in 18 years, showed up at his home to say thank you. (Editorial Comment: We have a good man as President of
our Club.)

Program Director John Moffat introduced our program speaker, Ashley Buerger, executive director of Road2Home (R2H). Ashley has a bachelor’s degree from WWU
in recreation therapy and a Master’s Degree in Health Care Administration. She is a certified recreation therapist and has worked in an in-patient behavioral health setting. She enjoys, among other activities, backpacking.

Ashley explained that R2H began as a grassroots effort to increase our community's capacity to serve the homeless. It quickly took on vital projects to help the homeless, such as the Tiny Homes Village, Emergency Winter Shelter and more. Since earlier this year, R2H has experienced rapid growth and has hired a staff of permanent employees. The budget began with $46,000 in annual funding and is now around $600,000, funded through multiple contracts with local governments.

Ashley gave an overview of homelessness in Whatcom County. The “point in time” count, done every January, identified 832 homeless people in 2022. In 2023, the count is 1,0259 individuals. Ashley emphasized that these numbers seriously undercount the number of homeless people in our community. Since 2019, the number of homeless seniors has increased by 141%. 71% of all homeless people are single adults.

Ashley noted that R2H has multiple programs to serve the homeless community. This includes the Gardenview Tiny Home Village at Lakeway and Woburn, which presently has 35 units, housing 35-40 individuals. The Village is staffed 24 hours a day. The Emergency Winter Shelter provides shelter during the severe weather months, December 1 through the end of February. It provides some 45 beds nightly, on a first come first served basis. It is staffed by a behavioral health specialist as well as a resource manager and a van driver. Another R2H program is Volunteer Ally, based on the Big Brother model, which pairs a community volunteer with a homeless person for support and guidance. Finally, there is the Community Training Program, which provides training in trauma-informed care, data collecting on homelessness, de-escalation, and best practices. 

 

During the Q & A, Ashley stated that the vast majority of homeless people do not have mental health issues; it is the small minority that do who attract all of the public's attention and cause problems for local businesses.

 

Mark Knittel mentioned a recent well done California study about homelessness that, among other things, disputes the idea that many of our homeless population have migrated to the West Coast because of milder weather and better support services. Here is the link:

 

California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness | Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (ucsf.edu)