Prescott Area Shelter Services

It’s like a personal tsunami. Imagine being a single mom with three children and you have a car accident. Suddenly, you are faced with a range of challenges. You must deal with insurance issues and you need to get another car. You are living paycheck to paycheck and without a vehicle, and you begin to miss work. Next, you can’t pay the rent and you and your children are out on the street. You have no family to help with childcare and housing.

The people at Prescott Area Shelter Services (PASS) say this kind of scenario is not unusual.

However, local auto dealers are hoping to make in change in such people’s lives. During the month of October, Findlay Hyundai will be donating $250 to PASS for every new or pre-owned vehicle sold on site. In addition, Findlay Buick GMC will be donating $250 to PASS for every new Buick or GMC sold on site. “Our Findlay dealerships are owned by the Findlay family, and our mission is to help make the local communities that we serve a better place by giving back and supporting great local non-profits and civic organizations,” said Findlay Hyundai General Manager Ben Hollibaugh.

The Findlay Hyundai and Buick GMC stores that are partnering in this effort are located on the same campus on Willow Creek Road in Prescott, along with the Findlay Toyota and Subaru stores.

All these Prescott dealerships are part of the Findlay parent organization, with more than 30 dealerships in the network. “We believe that Prescott Area Shelter Services (PASS) needs and deserves to be supported because they make such a huge impact here in our local community,” Hollibaugh said. “Many of us here at Findlay Hyundai and Findlay Buick GMC have kids of our own and to be able to support an organization like PASS that does so much to assist our local children and families is a mission that truly is near and dear to our hearts.”

Hollibaugh said each $250 donation will be added up through the month and then the dealerships will make an overall donation in November. “We are estimating around $4,000 to $5,000 in donations for PASS,” said Findlay Buick GMC General Manager Aaron Weinzetl. “That should be the figure from us [at the Buick GMC store].

“The Findlays have always been about giving back and reaching out to the community,” Weinzetl continued. “We believe that PASS does all the heavy lifting. We are just glad that we can help support.”

Founded in 2007 and granted non-profit 501(c)3 status in 2009, PASS has served more than 3,000 women and children and provided more than 105,000 bed nights. Located in the heart of Prescott on North Rush Street, PASS is a temporary, emergency 26-bed shelter for “guests,” including women 18 and older, and women with children and female veterans. There is a separate area for mothers with teen male children.

PASS Executive Director Carmen Frederic, who started work at PASS in 2009, left for a few years but came back, for a total of 12 years. She says she feels blessed to be with the non-profit organization.

“I find joy in each day at PASS, but my special memories are the relationships built between the guests we serve, the staff I work with, the volunteers who serve, the community that gives endless help and the Board of Directors that continuously supports and backs PASS,” she said.

Frederic says she is particularly inspired by “watching people overcome challenges and are stronger for it, and then come back to share how their life has changed for the better.”

For her, it’s personal. She has family members who have struggled with obstacles and if not for a helping hand, they would not have succeeded, she says.

Staff at PASS includes two full-time employees, Frederic and Katee Norris, director of programs, as well as three part-time staff members, Director of Marketing Julie Brown Pflueger, Emergency Shelter Case Manager Danielle Hollinger and Transitional Housing Case Manager Susan Erickson.

The shelter service receives no state or federal funding and relies on support from the community and grant funding. Each guest has a one-on-one meeting each week with a case manager. Through PASS, the transition rate into a permanent housing situation ranges from 81% to 87%.

“My biggest inspiration at PASS is that I get to walk beside women every day who have to make hard and scary decisions for their lives,” said PASS Case Manager Danielle Hollinger. “Seeing each woman grow more independent and confident as they journey from homelessness to permanent housing, there is nothing else quite like that.”

Along with providing 90-day emergency shelter, PASS offers six programs that assist guests from crisis to stability. One of these programs includes two transitional housing buildings that serve single women and full families, including fathers.

“A single dad with two teenage kids just moved in today. Now that he finally has a stable place to be, he will be able to work full time to get back on his feet,” said Pflueger.

There are also a number of older guests.

“This year we have had a slew of older women. The oldest was 89,” Pflueger said, who noted that two unrelated women in their 70s and 80s now live together in an apartment.

“They are sharing rent in a transitional apartment. One has $900 from Social Security, the other $800, so together they can afford it; independently they can’t.”

Younger guests also benefit from shelter programs, like the two pregnant teens that came through PASS last year. “One teen with a history of substance abuse had lost her three children to Child Protective Services,” Pflueger said. “She gave birth while staying with us. They removed that baby at the hospital. She worked with our case manager to get stable, find a job and a place to live.”

The teen was able to have her baby back and ultimately share custody of her three other children with her partner.

The money raised through the Findlay sales fundraiser will help with basic needs,” she said. “A donation of only $28 can mean a new chance for a guest in need, a chance to feel safe, a chance to feel supported with dignity and a chance to get back on their feet,” according to the PASS website.

Larger investment projects that have required funding include the recently purchased transitional four-plex residence that currently houses four low-income families. Upcoming projects needing funds are window replacement, HVAC installation, a paved parking area, roof replacement, and maintenance and upkeep of the emergency 26-bed shelter.

The community will have a chance to visit PASS during an Open House from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 25. QCBN

By Betsey Bruner, QCBN

For more information, visit PASS on Facebook, Facebook www.facebook.com/makeadifferencePASS/ and at the website, www.prescottshelters.org

Photo Courtesy of Clay McCauslin: Gathered together at Prescott Area Shelter Services are Findlay Buick GMC General Manager Aaron Weinzetl, PASS Director of Programs Katee Norris, PASS Director of Marketing Julie Brown Pflueger, PASS Executive Director Carmen Frederic, Findlay Hyundai General Manager Ben Hollibaugh and Findlay Hyundai General Sales Manager Joey Listul.