Transitional housing director seeks partners for local program

For local people who have fallen under the weight of poverty and have landed with no place to live and no means to make ends meet, help may soon be on the way.

Jay Preston, the director of My Father's House Community Services in Paola, has developed a program, which he hopes to develop in the local area and surrounding counties as an outreach for rural homelessness. Currently, Preston is working with individuals in the Fort Scott area in an attempt to bring Transition in Place to the local community.

According to My Father's House Web site, www.my-fathers-house.com, it is Preston's goal to help individuals and families learn to live on their own and yet create partnerships with others in that same community for support.

"Our vision is to see every individual and family living successfully and interdependently within a caring community," the Web site said.

Preston knows what it feels like to be homeless. At the time that he was without a home, he did not realize that someday that experience would have such an impact on his future as well as the future of other people who came into contact with him, a written statement said.

In July, Preston was asked to address the National Alliance to End Homelessness. His presentation focused on the importance of partnerships within rural communities in order to obtain enough help for those who need it. Preston said that his presentation had positive effects.

"The conference was very affirming that we're heading in the right direction, and even that we're ahead (of other organizations)," he said.

A good example of this type of partnership is the partnership that My Father's House has with Americare, the company that has leased a facility to MFH. The company has been leasing the building to MFH for only a dollar per year. The MFH Web site said that the deed to the leased building will soon be turned over to the organization.

Though Preston said MFH had very humble beginnings, it has grown to a successful outreach for many who are in desperate need of assistance. The difference between Transition in Place and an emergency shelter, he said, involves the amount of time that services are provided to an individual or family. Though Preston acknowledges that emergency housing is important, with emergency housing, a family is only allowed to stay for a minimal amount of time. This is good for some circumstances such as domestic violence situations, he said.

Transition in Place, however, is a program that will place an individual or a family in a house or an apartment for six months to two years. With Transition in Place offering counseling, life skill training and other services, the goal is to place a family or an individual in a rental home and that eventually the person or family will begin to make the payments instead of having the payments made by Transition in Place. This will allow the individuals or families time to get on their feet and give them a chance to become self sufficient, Preston said.

Although some local people may not realize the number of homeless people who are in Bourbon County and other rural areas, many Bourbon County Coalition members who were present when Preston spoke to the group agreed that the local area has many homeless people. Preston said that many people do not realize the large number of homeless people in rural areas because homelessness in these areas differs from homelessness in the big cities.

Mother to Mother Program Director Wilma Leach concurred with Preston's assertion that homelessness does exist in Bourbon County, and many people need the extra help that Transition in Place can provide.

"We really need this here. I get calls every day from people who have no place to go," she said.

At the Bourbon County Coalition meeting, Preston told those present about a homeless woman and her baby. He said that the woman and her baby were staying in a tent at a Paola area lake.

It is Preston's plan that the proposed Transition in Place would be funded in part through a HUD grant. Preston has had many opportunities to apply for grants in the past, and although he could not say for sure that he would definitely receive the grant, his experience has gained him the needed knowledge that will better his chances of receiving the grant requested.

After Preston spoke with the Bourbon County Coalition, he addressed the Ministerial Alliance, as well. Ministerial Alliance Vice President and First Church of the Nazarene pastor Scott Moore said that he thinks that Preston and those in his organization have an insight into the problem of homelessness.

"I think that they understand rural homelessness and the difference between rural homelessness and homelessness in the big city," he said.

Coalition Chairman Ann Ackerman said that she was impressed by Preston's presentation. She said that most people do not realize what a need we have for a program such as the one that Preston is proposing.

Area resident Michael Nash has been selected to be the contact person in the Fort Scott area for My Father's House and Transition in Place. For more information about Transition in Place, contact Nash at michaelnash@my-fathers-house.com or visit the organization's Web site.