Michael McCormic, Jr.
For ClarkCountyToday.com
VANCOUVER — Renee Stevens’ Christian faith has sustained her through years of struggle and turmoil.
As she now sits as executive director of the organization that helped her through trying times, that same faith is what leads Open House Ministries, a religious-based nonprofit shelter for the homeless in Vancouver, into a new chapter of outreach in the community.
Founded in 1985 by Joanne and Bob Kendall, Open House Ministries began as a simple outreach to provide resources and overnight shelter to transient women with young children, but has since grown to become a shelter capable of housing up to 107 homeless individuals, half of which are children under the age of 18.
“We believe in a holistic approach,” explains Stevens. “Our programs meet the needs of homeless families in job training, life skills, education, we have chapel, and our program lasts an average stay of nine months, but families can stay here up to a year. We (also) have transitional housing for families who have graduated our program.”
Stevens, who has been through the program, is a testament to its success. In 1999 at the age of 29, Stevens and her three daughters moved into an apartment at the Open House Ministries headquarters in downtown Vancouver off 12th and Jefferson. Having been homeless prior to her admittance to the Open House shelter, her story is not the typical rags-to-riches tale. Stevens rose from struggles with addiction, abuse, and trauma to be the executive director of Open House Ministries, and while material wealth may not be her form of “riches,” Stevens claims to have found something much more valuable along the way — her Christian faith.
“Through my faith and hope in the Lord, I was able to overcome all of those obstacles,” she firmly asserts.
Stevens was first hired as an official employee of Open House Ministries in 2005, becoming a member of the nighttime staff. Since then, she has worked her way through the ranks, filling roles as community resource coordinator, case manager and lead case manager. Then, earlier this year, the organization’s 12-person board of directors voted unanimously to instate Stevens as the new executive director.
Stevens now carries on the vision of Joanne and Bob Kendall to better serve the homeless in the community and provide for their needs. Recently, the organization held a groundbreaking ceremony for their latest project, a 15,558-square-foot family resource center on the lot adjacent to their current outreach shelter. This facility, which is scheduled to be completed within a year of the groundbreaking that took place this May, is expected to cost $2.9 million. Originally the vision of the previous executive director Wayne Garlington, it is set to include a recreation center, classrooms, and office space, all of which will open up currently occupied space in the shelter building to be used for their original housing purposes and allow Open House Ministries to shelter a larger number of homeless families.
The organization bought the property upon which the new facility is to be built back in 2014. Currently, Open House Ministries owns the entire city block upon which their shelter is located, using the northwest lot for the location of their thrift shop and coffee house, which helps fund the ministry’s programs. Before being purchased by Open House Ministries, the lot on which the new building is planned was home to a boarding house that has since been vacated and demolished.
Many have wondered why it is that the new building will not become a new housing facility to shelter more homeless families in the area, especially in a time in which the homeless crisis in Vancouver is becoming a serious problem for city residents. Unfortunately, current legal statutes limit what Open House Ministries is able to do with their newly acquired property. Because of this, the decision was made to build a facility that could enrich the lives of those already participating in the program, while also relocating the administrative offices to make more room at the current shelter.
“When we had the vision to build the new building, we knew we had to do it within some of the guidelines that were set up decades ago,” explains Judy McMorine, Open House Ministries’ development director. “One of those guidelines is one that restricts the number of social service beds that can be built new on any one property.”
In spite of the limitations on the property, Stevens claims she would like to see the new resource center benefit members of the Vancouver community, not just the homeless population.
“We want to reach out to our community and help those who are suffering with mental health, drug and alcohol, or barely making their house payments,” Stevens says, “We offer Financial Peace classes, life skills, GED, education, and we want to offer those to our community at large. So you don’t have to be homeless to use the new facility.”
Youth intervention is another issue that Stevens hopes this new building will benefit. Recalling a conversation she had with her daughter after her family left the Open House Ministries shelter, Stevens realized that the children whose parents were going through the program deserved the same quality of resources that their parents were receiving. As a result, Stevens recognizes an opportunity for growth within her organization.
“What we do here at Open House Ministries absolutely changes people’s lives, but we can do a lot better with changing the youth who come into this facility with their parents,” she claims.
Because the issue of intergenerational homelessness affects the families who go through the program, Stevens would like to see the new resource center open the possibility to provide youth with resources to not only avoid homelessness in their adult years, but thrive as adults without having to make the same mistakes or experience the same struggles as their parents.
For Stevens, leading this project means carrying on as she has since 1999 – keeping the faith, listening to the heart, and always pushing the bar.
“We can always be doing better for our families and for our community, for our staff, for anybody who volunteers here or walks by that need a sleeping bag or drink of water, cup of coffee,” explains Stevens. “We need to be doing God’s work and meet people right where they’re at.”
