Friends and Neighbors in Need

Immediate Need:

There exists in Archuleta County, NO place to serve the truly indigent.  This is especially serious during the winter/cold months.  The Pagosa Outreach Connection (POC) exists to provide emergency assistance, but the POC process requires an application with a decision mechanism that could take weeks.  What is missing is a way to respond to immediate emergency situations. The circumstances that account for these situations range from individuals who are either homeless or find themselves without immediate shelter.  In addition to shelter, many have needs for food, clothing, wood, medicine, etc.  This circumstance is especially grave when children or the elderly are involved.

Friends and Neighbors in 

              Need:

        The Beginning

Everyone has an opinion about the attached picture, so before you find what look like deer’s feet under the tarp, handsome handmade wooden steps, the gas can is not safe, the sun is shining, etc., etc., etc., it is a pile of wood to be burned to keep this person’s house warm.  

Equally important, the need for wood to survive is the story of our beginning.  2 years ago, November 2022, those of us interested in helping our friends and neighbors in need, got our first call.  The call was at night, and it was cold outside.  A woman who had suffered years of abuse, had just been abandoned by that man.  He took all their money and everything of value.  The call came from a principal at Rise Above Violence.  The woman had a job and had wood for that night.  I simply sent a note to my family and friends asking for help.  That night I received calls from family giving us access to their wood piles.  Cousins from Bloomfield, Salt Lake City and Denver sent us money.  Others offered us access to their land to go and cut wood as needed.  Next day, a visiting cousin from Seattle, Washington offered to help me deliver the first load of wood.  We were able to provide her the wood she needed until she was self-sustaining.

But the thought about how she felt that evening, when after all she had suffered, how was she going to survive one more day!  I’m proud to say that our family and friends were ready.  So, we began to think about how to step into that space, show the person dignity and help them get through the emergency.

Fast forward 2 years:  That pile represents two more nights of wood for an elderly man whose only means of warmth in his house, is a wood burning stove.  A man many of us see on the street, pushing a walker and smoking his cigarette.  He had asked the Senior Center for help, and they called Friends and Neighbors in Need.  Barbara Noriega and her husband delivered what you see in this picture.  On Thursday at 10:30am, FaNiN has paid for a chord to be delivered and the wood ministry from St. Pats will deliver 2 more chords.

Please know any contribution you make to FaNiN, makes a huge difference!