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Boise resident Maxine Smith, second from right, talks with Tina Ybarra and New Hope transitional house manager Adam Garcia as RaNae Huntting stands nearby on Saturday afternoon at a New Hope Community Health Christmas party.
Charlie Litchfield / IPT
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Jon Meyer
jmeyer@idahopress.com
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007

BOISE — As 83-year-old Maxine Smith came up the sidewalk to a local halfway house Saturday, she brought with her good tidings and a big bowl of potato salad.

She didn’t come to check up on the former convicts gathered to celebrate the holiday, or to complain about the noise, but because she was invited and “just wanted to be neighborly.”

When the Aster Place house manager, Adam Garcia, opened the door and welcomed Smith to the New Hope Community Health open house, she was met with a flood of applause and appreciation from the full house.

A 10-year resident of the neighborhood, Smith has never felt threatened or worried about her new neighbors, many of whom are recovering alcohol or drug addicts coming out of incarceration. Some other neighbors in the area have recently called for the removal of the New Hope Staffed, Safe and Sober house at a public meeting in Nampa.

Smith doesn’t agree.

“I just feel like these people need an opportunity to improve their lives. And they need a place to live like the rest of us,” she said. “It is our civic duty to do this (and accept them).”

Home welcomes public

Garcia has helped set up several of New Hope’s halfway houses around the Treasure Valley, including a highly debated site in Nampa. To see neighbors show up at Saturday’s Christmas party and open house in Boise, he said, shows that some of the people are starting to change their thinking about the homes.

“A lot of the outcry we see is from elderly people,” Garcia said. “And to see an elderly person (Smith) come in here is a blessing. It breaks down the barrier.”

A couple more neighbors came to wish the men a happy holiday before the party was over, but despite the widespread invites sent out around the area, the get-together was mostly limited to New Hope administrators, members and friends.

Philip Burchfield and Kevin Anderson have lived in the Aster Place home for several months on their road to recovery and have witnessed the varied attitudes from irate and unhappy neighbors, attitudes they say come from a “fear of the unknown.”

“Having an open house like this lets them know we’re not a bunch of thugs living here,” Burchfield said. “It’s a safe house and our neighborhood is a safe neighborhood.”

Anderson echoed his sentiment, reiterating that when people hear about homes like theirs, they “automatically think the worst.”

“But it’s not going to happen. We’re a faith-based recovery program ... We realize our mistakes and are trying to address them,” he said. “All of this kind of inspired me today to call all the people who’ve helped me and thank them and bless their families for the holiday... that’s not something you think of when you’re addicted.”

Moving forward

With the successful open house and neighbors extending their hands to New Hope residents in Nampa, it’s the hope of many within the company that attitudes will continue to change.

Even Dale Davis, who has only been living on Aster Place for a week and a half, hopes the residents will start to see him and his housemates in a new light.

“I think this all is great,” Davis said while surveying the selection of Christmas goodies. “I hope the neighbors will start to think of us a little different ... How do they know someone else isn’t getting out of prison and buying the house next to them? What all the guff about us in transitional housing is, I don’t know.”

Now that the reception is starting to look a little brighter for Garcia and the residents of the Boise home, he hopes he can continue to help New Hope and the community as a part of the staff.

“I want to continue to be part of it and help the guys. I want to be here for the men,” he said.

In the meantime, New Hope was more than happy to offer assistance with the only thing that Smith fears with the upcoming holiday: the first big snow.

After hearing her concerns about getting around in the winter weather, the former inmates jumped at the chance to go out and buy snowshovels to clear sidewalks and driveways around their neighborhood. And they plan to do it free of charge, for no reason at all but to “be good neighbors,” New Hope director Dennis Mansfield said.