Our people Public Comment from Jennifer LoftonAimee Brunckhorst
From: Jennifer Lofton <raynecashjennl @gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 7:37 AM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Our people
He might DIE tonight if someone doesn't give him change to get that beer!! Because some alcohol withdrawals are
deadly, He might get treatment and realize he's messed up his OWN life and change a few months from now if he could
just get a little help tonight. He's trying to forget he lost his wife & kids.
Don't help that man that's talking to himself cussing all loud and "crazy" he's probably on drugs. All he takes are his
mental health meds. BUT Unfortunately he has a severe and DISABLING mental ILLNESS. He was born and raised in
Kalispell.His extreme condition limits his housing options to none at this point.
What about that lady I met with a bunch of makeup on, so nice!She didn't seem like she'd be homeless. When I walked
in the bathroom and she was applying more makeup after a shower I saw the bruises. I saw the blood on her shirt, &
helped her with a new shirt to get cleaned up. She had been through abuse for a long time and was terrified! She didn't
even want to say her real name but she gave a million thank yous!!! & Soon she was on her way to a safe place because
of the SUPPORT she escaped that abuse! I still don't know her name, but I love her and hope she's okay!!
LOCAL Mental health group homes and mental health care have closed, so theyre now homeless.
There was homeless man who worked every day and who got hit by a drunk driver & killed. We talked more about the
people being at depot park. But when someone gets drunk and kills a homeless man nobody says anything.Do they even
know he died? I loved Joey! & His boss and coworkers loved him too!
& I live in downtown Kalispell. There were less homeless people walking around in alleys and on sidewalks in the dark
when they had a place to be. There is nowhere else!
There could be!! The flathead Warming Center could expand!! But they need the support of the community big time!!!
If you knew their stories & could watch them progress and evolve when they start receiving love and support
you would be amazed. You would feel like you learned to be a better person through them and understand why
shelters are needed, especially with the prices of everything now.
For anyone who thinks the Kalispell shelter is enabling the homeless community to continue to do wrong,
please take the time & learn about what really happens there:
What about the shelter that helped those men & women GET JOBS by having job services and computers for
people looking for jobs.
What about the shelter that helped them with an address and the ability to get IDENTIFICATION to get a job.
What about the shelter that collected enough donations from our generous COMMUNITY to provide clean
clothing to homeless people so they could get jobs & hold jobs.
What about that shelter with that awesome haircut volunteer who keeps these guys groomed so they can
MAINTAIN JOBS.
What about that shelter that provides free showers and laundry so these HARD WORKING people can be
clean for their jobs, thankfully since many of them are RESTAURANT AND GROCERY STORE employees!
What about the shelter that provides dinner, breakfast, laundry and showers & beds for those kids so they can
be clean, fed, and rested for school.
What about the shelter that helped those women be safe.
What about the shelter that has helped get dangerous people off of the streets and out of Kalispell.
What about the shelter that has helped a young mother overcome an addiction and move on to sobriety and
independent housing.
What about the shelter that has helped countless battered women escape that reality by referring them to
places that specialize in helping victims.
What about the shelter that gave the mentally ill man shoes in the freezing weather because he didn't realize
he wasn't wearing any.
What about the shelter that gave the people wondering the streets at night a safe place to go, while giving the
community a sense of security knowing there weren't strangers wondering their neighborhoods at night.
What about the shelter that helped a disabled elderly veteran in a wheelchair get a little apartment because he
was struggling to push his chair through the snow in the winter. He had duck tape holding the wheelchair
together, that shelter helped him get a reliable wheelchair & put him in touch with veterans services.
What about that shelter who provided the only meals for that teenager who ran away from home, until they
contacted children services to help him with his abusive situation.
Or the couple random teens & young men who stopped by for a bowl of oatmeal on their way to work &
school.
What about that shelter who provided shelter for the elderly lady with dementia and no family who refuses to
go to a home, but nobody can force her to so she just needs a place to sleep at night. Eventually they'll be able
to convince her to go to an assisted living home.
What about the shelter who helps the elderly homeless community find housing.
What about that shelter who helped that elderly lady who was dropped off by a community member! She was
lost for 2 days! They thought she was homeless, but the shelter connected her back with her family.
What about the shelter that continuously works with mental health services to connect the mentally ill with
healthcare.
What about the shelter that helps connect people with minimal incomes to housing.
What about the shelter that will give literally any cold person a coat and some compassion if they're cold and
need help.
What about the shelter that provides safety to our city by keeping people from sleeping outside getting more
and more intoxicated throughout the night trying to stay warm.
What about the shelter who has already helped countless people get into addiction treatment, mental health
services, connected back to their families...
What about the shelter who alerted authorities about the HOMICIDAL man from Missoula... that shelter aided
in getting him out of our town immediately from jail & into a state hospital.
That shelter has the ability to decrease drug and alcohol use by applying strict rules and consequences for
possession of either while at the shelter.
That shelter has the ability to keep the community safe by keeping those who are intoxicated off the streets at
night and in a controlled environment in case a dangerous situation may arise.
That shelter has the ability to observe and report illegal activity because it does not promote anything illegal
and is all about community.
That shelter has the ability to get certain people out of town and completely off of the streets if they are a
danger to our community. That shelter has the connections to get people off the streets who are a threat to
themselves and others. That shelter has employees with good rapport with the homeless so they have the
ability to learn behaviors that keep the guests and the community safe when they notice escalated mental
health or addiction behaviors. They have the connections and ability to reach out to addictions and mental
health professionals to help when needed. Some mental illnesses include many highs and lows and the
community is safer when a metal health professional can be alerted of risky behaviors. That shelter has those
abilities because of their close connections with the community. The community needs that shelter and that
shelter needs the support of our community!
That shelter needs the community to help with expansion so that the people who are wondering outside, who
don't have any place to go when the shelters are full would have a place to go!!
I don't work at the shelter now but have & firmly believe in the goal of keeping these homeless people warm &
safe!! But it's so much more than that! There's so much progress being made for those who make it there in
time for a bed!!!
They hold beds for those who work as incentive to work!!
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They help with so many resources for people who want out of homelessness & put in the effort.
They also give people a place to stay & use the restroom & eat & shower & wash their clothes & dispose of
things the shouldn't dispose of in the park! But the Warming center needs support from the community to
expand so that they can help with the cleaning up in our homeless crisis. It's a crisis, all over our country
because mental health services closed group homes, affordable housing was turned into air bnb s, the prices
of everything has gone up, fentanyl started taking over.... including in our HIGH SCHOOLS RIGHT
NOW!!!!!!!!!
I've got a serious illness that requires lots of Drs appointments so I can't work right now but I go out everyday and check
on the homeless people. I stopped yesterday and checked on 2 of the "hardest" homeless guys we have by myself. I'm 5
ft tall. I've always shown them love & the show me the same love. They're not scary if you get to know them. They are
lost & they need help & they get A LOT of that from the warming center and Samaritan house & CAP, Shaun from Cap
helped me with a deposit on my place 4 years ago after I had surgery and couldn't afford my house anymore!! 4 years
ago!! & I've been stable & working in the community successfully. There are so many success stories!! Let's show them
love & support STRICTLY with the help of our local professionals, not the people who think they know the answers! Let's
go with the people who have been putting in the research & doing the trial & error tests to see what works! Support our
professionals in what they do & our community will be a great place!! They just need our support and guidance!! When
a bad one shows up, we know there's no help let's be aggressive with getting them into warm springs or jail! I spent,6
months working with one of our worst cases & every agency in Kalispell turned him away. His mom & I spent countless
hours begging for help to get him off the streets to treatment, jail, warm springs .... you have to be sober to get mental
health care because you have to be sober for an accurate evaluation. You have to be on mental health meds for 30 days
for most treatment programs to accept you. So if you're mentally ill with an addiction you're screwed. I eventually sent
him to st Patrick's mental ward in Missoula and they got him to warm springs.... he was a danger to the community and
himself and because of the connections with the Warming center and other services I was able to speak to st Patrick's as
a professional & get him admitted. We need these services! These warming centers get the bad people off the streets
too!!
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