Union Bulletin articles:    Published May 21, 2017:Christian Aid Center in final push for funds for new women's, children's shelter   Published May 25, 2017: Christian Aid Center’s new facility for women and children is needed  

This article was published in the Walla Walla Union Bulletin as a guest editorial on Sunday, October 9, 2016  With all the recent attention the subject of homelessness is getting in our community, I’m often asked what are some ways to help the homeless. So, as someone who has worked with this population for nearly 20 years at the Christian Aid Center, here are my suggestions on how you can REALLY help the homeless.   First of all, one of the best things you can do is to understand how they got there in the first place. In most cases,…

Henry* didn’t see much need in seeing the nurse in our clinic. He had just arrived at the shelter the day before and had healthcare available through the Veteran Affairs Hospital if he needed it. But fortunately, a staff member encouraged him to go—as is customary with new guests. While talking with the nurse, he started exhibiting the signs of a stroke and was immediately sent to the emergency room. After several days in the hospital, Henry recovered from the stroke and he is thankful for the quick thinking nurse who saved his life. In the past 12 months, the…

I’ve seen a lot of brokenness in my life. I grew up in a broken home with broken people and I think, consequentially, I became broken as well. Years of being addicted to meth didn’t heal anything, but only brought me in contact with more broken people like me. I continued on a spiral of drug addiction for years, but this year was different. This year, I lost a lot of things in my life: my license, my home, my brother to a drug overdose, and my ten-year-old son—Jadyn—to CPS (Child Protective Services). I was almost arrested for driving on…

Time to Reconnect Graduates of Rebuilders, our life-change program for men, and CAC staff held their first alumni retreat at beautiful Wallowa Lake. The purpose of this weekend event was to reconnect the men with each other and share the successes and challenges of living in this new phase of their lives, while resisting the negative temptations of the past. The CAC staff also wanted to get feedback on how effective Rebuilders had been for the participants and brainstorm ways to strengthen the program. One graduate admitted to struggling before the retreat. Gratefully, the love and encouragement given to him…