Now homeless, victim of recession looks for new start
Rodney Pesho, a truck driver from Moses Lake, Washington, has been at the Lighthouse Rescue Mission since August. Mike Vogt/IPT
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bdooley@idahopress.com
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
NAMPA — Rodney Pesho came to the Treasure Valley for work as a truck driver after losing his home in Moses Lake, Wash.
"When the market went down, I lost my house," he said. "I lost everything in it. I had to pawn everything I owned."
When the work dried up, he found himself living in his truck in the middle of this year's long, hot summer.
Programs offered
Guests at the Lighthouse Rescue Mission can enroll in a Life Transitions program — a four- to six-month program designed to help the individual find work and gain independence — or a drug and alcohol addiction program that can last 12 to 18 months.
Robert Pfeifer, a Nampa man who said he spent decades addicted to heroin and methamphetamine, will complete that program in two weeks. He came to the mission just over a year ago.
The program has been difficult at times, but ultimately rewarding, he said. It's given him another reason to be thankful this year.
"It gave me new meaning to my life," he said. "It showed me who my savior is, Jesus Christ. It gave me something to look forward to besides emptiness."
Pfeifer said he is in the final stage of the program, which involves a job search.
"I'm just hoping to be a productive member of society, get my life back together. Give back to the people I took away from," he said. "I'm hoping one day to lead some other addicts to Jesus Christ."
Community responds
Despite hard times, the local community has continued to be very supportive of the Lighthouse Rescue Mission in Nampa, Lighthouse Director Chris Ellison said.
"During this past year, overall we've seen greater support from those that have, and it's just so encouraging," he said. "It's that prod, if you want to use that term, to keep us going."
Donations of nonperishable food items or cash are always helpful, and support the mission's services for the homeless as well as food boxes distributed to needy local families, he said.
The Lighthouse Rescue Mission is located at 427 Nampa-Caldwell Blvd. in Nampa.
"I wasn't getting to sleep until 3 in the morning," he said. "I was living on like 10 bags of Top Ramen a day."
After weeks of that life, on Aug. 23, he was ready to violate his misdemeanor probation and go to jail just to have a roof over his head, he said.
"I called the police department and told them, 'I'm going to break some windows,'" he said.
Instead of arresting him, police directed him to Nampa's Lighthouse Rescue Mission, a shelter operated by the Boise Rescue Mission.
He's been a guest at the mission since summer, looking for work and studying to apply for certification to haul hazardous materials, which he hopes will increase his job prospects.
More than shelter
In addition to food and a place to stay, the shelter has provided Pesho with support and guidance, he said,
"It's really great here. There's rules, you know, you don't get away with anything ... I'm out everyday looking for work," he said. "They don't make any better people than the staff here. If I get a little bit of money, I'm going to remember what they've done for me."
As the winter cold intensifies, more and more homeless people — some local and some passing through in a search for work — will take refuge at the Lighthouse and other shelters.
Even in today's tough times, that's nothing new. Mission workers said they're ready to handle the influx.
"We'll do what we can to make sure no one sleeps out in the cold," Lighthouse Director Chris Ellison said. "If that means putting mattresses down the hallways, you know, we'll do that,"
Sense of desperation
But the mission does face at least one new challenge: an increasing sense of desperation amid the harsh job market.
"There's an underlying attitude or demeanor of hopelessness because they've been trying to get a job for five, six months and they can't," Guest Services Director Jerrad Vahsholtz said. "That's why we try to implement the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because we know that there's hope in the Gospel."
In addition to its ministry, the mission also offers programs emphasizing employability and job search skills.
Twice a month, on the first and third Fridays, personnel from the state Department of Labor visit the mission to help anyone interested in working on resume-writing, interview and other skills. Those sessions are free and open to the public, Ellison said.
Many people don't realize the mission provides such programs, Ellison said.
"There's still a mindset, I think, in the valley that it's just a soup kitchen or a shelter," Ellison said. "Some people don't know we offer more than three hots and a cot."
