Homeless outreach

by Dallas D. Erickson, Stevensville

For many years there has been a problem with considerable numbers of people in Ravalli County being homeless. A problem that is getting worse as the County fails to address the rising cost of housing. Until four years ago, or so, the numbers of homeless people were large and growing.  Several organizations were attempting to address the issue and there was a lot of media coverage in both print media in the Valley about those attempts.

In stepped Pastor Harris Himes reaching out to the homeless in the valley with an opportunity to have a place to lay their heads and get shelter at a sliding scale of cost according to the situation of each family. With several buildings on the campus of the Big Sky Christian Center, he started putting together housing for families in all situations. Almost single handedly he took care of the homelessness problem in the County! The numbers have dropped drastically. These people are so grateful for this opportunity to have a “home”.  In order to help those still with no home after his buildings were full, he added some trailers and mobile homes to the property that were soon full.

Sanhedrin like, the County started threatening him with their “mighty power”.  That was after the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the organization that inspects septic systems in the county, advised Harris that he was following the law.   

Some people make fun of Pastor Himes because his sole motivation is to be a Christlike person and house the many people that need it; the least of these, at a cost that they can afford.   

Typical of the powerful County Attorney and the County Government in general, they have now filed a preliminary injunction and have caused 28 people to go homeless! The legal charges and threats threaten the rest of the homeless. 

There are interesting examples of the use of power and authority in the scriptures.  There is the power and authority to reach out and love people and help people do good and grow and be safe. And then there is the use of authority that has no heart. That always hurts. In this situation the use of power and threats is about as anti-Christ-like as possible. They could work with him if they would, but they would rather see people back out in the street as they practice their great “power”.  Is that what we want in our beautiful County? Or does caring, love and working together sound like a better way to go, in this situation especially.