Genesis Home: the people making a difference behind the scenes

 

Individuals experiencing homelessness. That’s the phrase Tasha Melvin prefers over “homeless people,” because as she puts it, “homeless people” carries with it the connotation of being permanent.

Melvin is the volunteer coordinator at Genesis Home, a temporary housing facility located at 300 N. Queen St. near downtown Durham. Melvin coordinates the home’s Circles of Support program which provides support for families who have just moved out of Genesis Home and into a house of their own.

“We have two goals with this program,” she says. “Our goal is to help them sustain housing for at least 12 months; permanently is our dream, of course, but to also help them increase their level of self-sufficiency.”

It’s this mindset that makes Genesis Home so much more than a place of refuge for Durham families that have fallen on tough times. Yes, it provides men, women and children with warm food and a bed, but the home also provides families with some much needed confidence.

As Dianne Pledger, Genesis Homes’ director of development puts it, the goal is to provide residents with hope and to instill in them the belief that they can succeed on their own.

“A lot of these people have been battered not just physically, but battered mentally,” she says. And so a portion of this is how to rebuild that so that they can get a job…and so that they can make good decisions. Because when you’ve been battered, you can’t make good decisions.”

Pledger is part of a small staff employed by Genesis Home.

They help these residents find jobs. They find residents the proper care, both mentally and physically that they need. And they teach residents how to manage money. All of this is in hopes that once a family leaves the home, they never have to experience homelessness again.

Genesis Home, which can house up to 15 families at any given time, helps people who are suffering through homelessness for a number of different reasons says Pledger.

“People with children, pregnant mothers, people that may be experiencing domestic violence [or] alcohol [and] substance abuse…we handle those types of families with those types of situations,” she says.

The goal is to provide these families with the help that they need. If a resident is dealing with an alcohol or drug addiction, Genesis Home finds them counseling. And if a family is simply struggling financially, the home provides them with a place to stay until they can get back on their feet.

The staff at Genesis Home also does whatever it can to make sure that the children at the home are well taken care of. This includes daily study hall sessions that are required for all school age children.

“Can you imagine how traumatic it is for some of these kids,” Pledger asks. “So what we try to do is keep some kind of normalcy in their lives, providing programs and activities for them to excel.”

Genesis Home also has what is called the Youth Enrichment Program. Melvin explains.

“We are incorporating life skills lessons and curriculums for age appropriate groups where they can access topics and subjects…that they need to be able to navigate everyday life,” she says. “Because they’re homeless, their ability to navigate situations may not be the best way. So our job is to come in and give them alternatives.”

Each program and resource offered by Genesis Home helps to reinforce the organization’s overall mission as found on the home’s website: “to end homelessness for families with children by providing housing and supportive services to foster independence.”

Ann Tropiano is the home’s director of programming. She says that the most rewarding part of her job is seeing residents succeed and gain that sense of independence.

“When different things click…you’ve had an ‘aha moment’ in your life…well we get to see people do that all the time. And sometimes it’s a child, often times it’s an adult.”

Samantha, who has asked that her last name not be used, is a resident at Genesis Home. During her stay at the facility, she says she has already had a number of those aha moments.

And she agrees that these moments have helped her gain confidence and become much more independent.

“I came to Genesis Home and they gave me a chance,” she says. “When everybody else said ‘no,’ Genesis Home said ‘yes.’ They taught me tools on being able to build myself up”

Samantha shares that the support she has received while at Genesis Home has inspired her to go back to school. She says she wants to start her own business one day.

It’s this newfound confidence instilled in many residents that keeps homelessness from becoming permanent. As Melvin puts it, individuals can experience homelessness, but it doesn’t mean they have to remain homeless.

Tropiano sums it up best.

“We want our neighborhood and our community to be strong, happy and well,” she says. “And what a way to do that. We definitely fill a need.”

But the staff does more than fill a need. It gives a sense of hope to many who are often ignored or forgotten.