From Homelessness to Hope

June 12, 2006

By Sherry Harbert

Dora Mioduski is a most graceful woman. It shows in a reserved elegance that emerges in everything she does. It is a quality usually found in individuals with high positions in government, business or the arts. But Mioduski isn’t walking out of boardrooms. Her strengths and talents have led her along a much different path—one that requires her to walk out on faith.

Mioduski’s faith in God has brought her through dire situations. Her faith has also lead her to individuals and organizations in Washington County, Oregon, that have turned her circle of homelessness and despair into one of community and hope. It is through those connections that Mioduski has emerged as one example of how a community can turn the face of homelessness into a valuable community member.

Because of Mioduski’s stunning accomplishments, she was one of several women chosen to speak at a town hall forum, “Putting a Face on Homelessness” in Forest Grove last month. Representatives from the county’s four homeless shelters, along with others from local agencies and churches gathered to bring awareness to an often ignored plight of thousands of residents in the state’s most affluent county. The forum was organized by Eric Canon, through the Forest Grove United Church of Christ, to open the dialogue on homelessness and to launch a comprehensive bid to publicize a critically needed tax levy slated for the November, 2006, election. Canon described the pivotal goal. “We need to change the face of homelessness,” he said. “We need to respond.”

It was the response of individuals and organizations that not only revived Mioduski’s life, but has taken her to levels she would never have imagined. Mioduski serves as a reminder that homelessness is not a choice or a dead-end existence. It can also be a beginning and serve a greater need.

The cycle begins...

Mioduski’s life catapulted downward soon after her marriage in 1999. She and her husband relocated to Oregon from Texas in 2000, leaving behind family and any means of support. That isolation made it nearly impossible for Mioduski seven months later when her husband forced her to leave. She took what she could fit in her car and drove away with no money, no resources and no hope.

“It was an agonizing pain,” said Mioduski. “There was no family or friends. I felt humiliated and so rejected. I felt my whole world fell apart from everything I knew.” That realization took her to her lowest point. She remembers driving to the bridges in Portland that span the Willamette River. “I drove to those bridges, those tall beautiful bridges and looked down and contemplated,” she said. “Then I looked up and knew there was a God. I was so desperate for help from somebody big.” Mioduski said those next days were filled with emptiness and pain, but she held on to her faith. “I told the Lord I know you can put me back together.”

She contacted a local food stamps office and several other agencies, but discovered what many immediately face upon losing basic housing. She was told there was no room and no immediate services available. Like the current 5,000 people on the county housing authority’s waiting lists, Mioduski began to realize there were very few options left in her most dire time.

It is under such circumstances that many people disappear in our society, whether it be local or national. Even with waiting lists, there is no actual way to determine the amount of people facing the most critical needs within Washington County. The 5,000 people on the housing authority’s list alone must wait at least three years for any kind of housing subsidies. Such grim statistics is why Russ Dondero, moderator at the homelessness forum, called the situation a crisis. “Homelessness is a crisis because we have such little resources to combat it,” he told the audience. “The issue in Washington County is deeper because of the housing insecurity.”

The Community Housing Fund out of Beaverton cites the serious shortage of affordable housing has placed an increasing number of people in a vulnerable financial position. Dondero stated it bluntly. “In Washington County, this means 45,000 of our neighbors are one catastrophic illness or lost job away from the streets.”

The Good Neighbor House in Tigard is the largest of the four shelters with 50 beds. The center’s director, Sydney Sherwood, said the average age of homelessness is 12. She said the funding for all the shelters is crucial to provide more than just beds. “We don’t just warehouse people. We give case management.” Sherwood said it was important to be included in the county’s levy, because it uses resources more effectively. The Criminal Justice Local Option Levy, slated for the November ballot, will pool money for jails, juvenile crime, the meth problem, gangs, the district attorney’s office and for the four shelters if passed. The forum organizers were thrilled when Washington County Commissioner Tom Brian and Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon viewed homelessness as a safety issue, rather than a social issue. They and others have formed the Citizens for a Safe Community to help voters understand what the levy means to their community.

There are only four shelters open in Washington County with a total of 110 beds. The number provides only a fraction of what is needed. Pat Rodgers, manager at the Community Action Family Center in Hillsboro, spoke at the forum to convey his frustration at the lack of funding to meet those needs and the lack of awareness. He told the forum audience that in an attempt to find some real numbers, 30 volunteers crossed the county last summer and were astonished to find homeless people in every wooded area in the county. “Families never planned for this,” he said. “They never knew they would be placed on a waiting list or even have to look for waiting lists.” Rodgers said it is even worse for singles. He said the first step was to recognize the need and then to find them through homeless outreach.

A Turn of Events

Without any outreach available, Mioduski had no one and no where to turn. “There’s no help for a single woman without children,” she said. Through her determination to find something, Mioduski managed to exchange caring for children at one of the shelters for food. So even though her car was her only home, she began helping others. From there, she discovered she could also help the residents fill out the many applications required for services. Having learned how to complete the many forms and make it through the administrative maze for public services, Mioduski also began teaching others the process.

What happened next changed Mioduski’s life. “The supervisor offered me the position at the shelter. She said she had been watching me,” said Mioduski. “I immediately knew it was from the Lord. I had only worked as a migrant worker. All I could have hoped for was to work at a fast food place.” The job offer was met with both elation and fear, but Mioduski was determined to make it work. “This was on a Thursday and she wanted me to start the next Monday.”

Mioduski knew she couldn’t begin a job living out of her car, so she gathered all her composure and began knocking on doors the next day to find an apartment. “I knocked on several places, but with no deposit, no rent and no references, no one would rent to me.” Before giving up, Mioduski was told of one place in Forest Grove. Instead of feeling discouraged, Mioduski took another leap in faith and told the woman showing the apartment that God wanted her to have it. Mioduski left without an answer, but received a call the next day from the woman stating her husband wanted to interview her. “He told me that they had prayed about it and said the Lord wanted them to take me under their wings. It was music to my ears.”

With her first place to call home, Mioduski prepared for her job on Monday. But, she faced a daunting dilemma that could have spiraled her blessings back into despair. “I reported for work and my supervisor showed me my cubicle and computer. I had to tell her I didn’t know how to use a computer. She hadn’t asked about it when she offered me the job.”

Mioduski said her supervisor pointed to a building located next door and told her she would hire her, but only on the condition that she learned her duties within three months or she would be let go. “Everyday I got up at 4 a.m.. I was so desperate to do my job well.” Mioduski was overwhelmed with the opportunity and the risk of failure. She said it made her question why God placed her in such a position. Mioduski would not only succeed in her job in the months to come, but soon offer help in other areas of the community.

Sitting in her apartment, Mioduski shared how much her apartment and job meant to her. She would awaken at 4 a.m. to study English, the computer and other courses before and after going to work. Her apartment meant so much that Mioduski would pay rent before spending her small income on food. It meant that her diet consisted of only lettuce for lunch and beans for dinner and breakfast. Though so grateful for what she had, after weeks of the bleak diet, Mioduski grew very depressed. “One day when I was sitting on the floor, I told God I was so tired of beans. I didn’t ask for steak. I didn’t ask for fancy dishes. I just wanted some pizza.” What happened next is another event that Mioduski says was from God. “20 minutes later, the landlord knocked on my door and asked if I wanted some pizza. She told me that they rarely ate it but for some reason ordered it and now couldn’t finish it.”

Such small but momentous events strengthened Mioduski to do more than just concentrate on her job. She first volunteered as a translator at the county health clinic. She soon added ministering unto prisoners in an outreach program and has been riding along with local law enforcement to encourage them in the daily duties for the past four years. “I started getting involved in the community, because I was so grateful for my job and home.” Mioduski also continues to meet with those who lived in the shelter. “There’s such a transformation in their lives,” she said. “They’re learning to do better.”

Mioduski’s giving has reached far beyond the county lines. She has gone to Washington, D.C., to pray with legislators, including the campaign headquarters of Senator John Kerry in his bid for the White House in 2004. “I noticed they are people just like us,” she said. “I think they realize they need God in the midst of their decisions.” She said the group that travels to Congress sees no political lines or divisions.

The Politics of Poverty

Some of the speakers at the forum have seen a division in the major parties with funding for social programs. Chuck Currie, having just been newly ordained as a minister the day before the forum, told the audience that “homelessness is both a political crisis and a spiritual crisis.” Working as a homeless advocate, Currie has seen huge changes in funding between the past administration and the current one. “When President Bill Clinton came to Oregon, I was invited to show him some shelters. I haven’t been invited in the last seven years.”

Currie said the drastic cuts in funding for all social programs creates an even greater crisis in homelessness and other social issues. He told the audience that the National Coalition on Homelessness found that the 2007 federal budget will cut $2 billion from services for the elderly, disabled and poor, with another $2 billion cut in children’s programs. “More people will be vulnerable to homelessness.” But Currie didn’t leave the audience without hope. “God calls us to do better,” he told them. “Think of this as a beginning, not an end.”

For Mioduski, her beginnings are continuing. She is a producer at the local community access channel and has more plans. But, she is quick to note that her first priority is to follow wherever God leads her. “My dream is to help people everyday. I hear stories everyday about people’s lives. We all have stories. Some are worse than others, but we all deserve a second chance.”

A second chance is what the forum organizers and participants hope to accomplish. All the speakers concluded that homelessness cannot be an “us” and “them” issue. Each expressed how there was no judgement of how people ended up homeless. It is a concept they hope to elaborate on more in the coming months. Dondero said homelessness runs much deeper. He told the forum audience that his son would have ended up homeless as so many others in desperate need of housing if not for his intervention. That is why the forum participants want to bring a face to homelessness. To Dondero’ and the others, homelessness is a personal issue. It’s family.

© 2006 Foreign Interest. All rights reserved.

For more information:

Criminal Justice Local Option Levy

The Community Housing Fund