DOOR TO RECOVERY
Barrett House marks 31 years of offering shelter, assistance to homeless women and children
Fourteen years ago Angela Thomason’s mother was murdered.
Two years ago her brother met the same fate. Shortly after that, Thomason, now 53, found her rock bottom. She had spent most of her adult life, 30 years, addicted to crack cocaine and mostly homeless. After her brother’s death, she knew something had to change.
“It was too much for me,” she said. “I got on my knees and asked God for strength. I said ‘Please God. I don’t want to die on the streets.”
She turned away from the drug that was destroying her life, put herself on a Greyhound bus to South Carolina and started her road to recovery. She returned to Albuquerque, managed to stay clean but struggled to establish permanent housing for herself. She stayed with her grown children for a while and decided it was time to find her own place. Her struggle with mental illness and previous felony convictions have made it difficult to hold down a job and find housing.
She reached out for help and found herself on the doorstep of the Barrett House, a longtime haven for Albuquerque’s homeless women and children. The emergency shelter is celebrating its 31st year. Brother Mathias Barrett established the shelter in 1985 at a house near 13th Street and Mountain. Since then, the shelter has moved to a location near Eubank and Constitution and expanded the scope of its mission. It no longer serves just as a place for women and children to sleep.
Eilene Vaughn-Pickrell, director of development for the Barrett Foundation Inc., said the organization provides not only temporary shelter but helps women transition to permanent housing and connects them with resources. Women can stay up to 28 days or longer with approval if they have a plan in motion. The average length of stay last year was 41 days.
In April, the foundation started its respite program to provide shelter for homeless women who are being released from the hospital after a medical procedure but do not have a comfortable place to recover.
“We help them overcome barriers to whatever is keeping them out of housing,” she said. “Maybe it’s an overdue utility. Or maybe it’s a
felony conviction or a previous eviction. We help them work with that.”
The 12-room shelter has a waiting list and women must call every day to keep their name active. The bedrooms vary in size. Some have four twin beds for single women, others have two beds for women with one child and then there are family rooms that have their own private bathroom, a king-size bed and two sets of bunk beds. Women in the smaller rooms share a dorm-style bathroom with individual restroom stalls and a shower.
There’s a wellness center on site and medical personnel come to the shelter once a week to hold a clinic. Women get three meals a day in the shelter’s dining room. Dinner is served buffet-style, allowing residents to choose what they would like to eat. Vaughn-Pickrell said it’s done this way to allow them more dignity.
Vaughn-Pickrell said the shelter is nondenominational and women are not required to attend any kind of church services to be residents there. There are rules though. The women must be working on finding permanent housing and are required to leave from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day to work toward that goal. This could include a visit the motor vehicle department for an identification or the social security office.
There is a 9 p.m. curfew and anyone who will be late must call in and give a reason. Those who don’t lose their bed. The shelter also does not provide childcare and women are responsible for their children at all times.
Vaughn-Pickrell said women end up at the shelter for many reasons and are from different backgrounds.
“Poverty is a big thing here,” she said. “Maybe they have a sick child and can’t work. Maybe it’s bad decision they’ve made or substance abuse or they lost their spouse or partner. We meet the women where they are in life and try not to be judgmental.”
Women are not screened for drugs or alcohol when given a bed at the place but housing manager Shanae Eggert said the shelter has a zero tolerance policy for drugs. Women suspected of being under the influence can be drug tested. Those found to be using on the premises are asked to leave.
When Thomason came to the shelter in early August, she was caring for her greatniece. The shelter helped connect her with legal aid so she could gain custody of the child, whose mother is struggling with a drug addiction. She learned on Sept. 27 that she had been approved for her own place and will soon move there with her great-niece.
She said she can’t remember the last time she had her own place. Before she got clean, most of her nights were spent sleeping outside or in a car. Her mother raised her daughter and son, who are now in their 30s. She said she knows her problems are because of the choices she made in her life but she’s determined to get back on track.
“I never planned to raise a 4-year-old at my age,” she said. “But God is giving me a chance to do what I didn’t do with my children. I have no desire to ever go back to that lifestyle.”
Thomason’s entire family has struggled with addiction, including her brothers and her parents. She said the staff at the Barrett House gave her the support, love and care she rarely received in her life.
“I want people to know there is hope,” she said. “I would recommend this place to any women out there on the streets. They will help you but you have to want it.”
For information, visit barrettfoundation.org.