A Safety Nest

Great ideas are born all the time, but usually, to come to fruition, they hinge on a single moment, a point in time when a different decision could have led nowhere at all.

For Sparrow’s Nest of Northwest Montana, a relatively new organization dedicated to supporting Flathead County’s homeless high school students, that moment came a few years ago at Marcia Bumke’s house, during a holiday break.

Bumke’s daughter, a student at Flathead High School, brought home two friends for the break. The footwear on one of the students – slippers, seemingly well worn – caught Bumke’s attention.

Soon, she learned that this boy was homeless, living behind the WalMart north of town, and walking to Flathead High every day in those slippers.

She could have ignored it. She could have bought the boy new boots and let that be the end of it. But Bumke let the teens stay in their home until they graduated, and she brought the issue of homeless students to the attention of the Flathead High School Parents’ Group.

“We were all shocked,” Stacey Schultz, a member of the parent group and board member of Sparrow’s Nest, said about the number of homeless students in their district.

The parent group, working with the administration at FHS, took action and developed Sparrow’s Nest about three years ago. Now, with all the research and organization under their belts, Sparrow’s Nest is almost ready to start housing homeless students for the long term.

A recent donation from the Tanko family deeded the church building on Seventh Avenue West and Second Street West to the organization, and last week, a group of teen volunteers from Leaders of Tomorrow were there helping with the demolition that will eventually lead to a renovation, with space for eight teens.

Sparrow’s Nest also received a conditional use permit from the City of Whitefish to have a house up there; the Whitefish location is basically turnkey, Schultz said, and will soon be able to house five teens.

The organization’s mission is to provide support and shelter for unaccompanied, homeless high school students throughout the Flathead. A recent fundraiser for the organization saw 52 people spend the night outside in a parking lot on Dec. 12 to experience homelessness for one night, and raised more than $30,000. A $10,000 donation from Eisinger Honda came on Dec. 18.

The community has responded well once they were made aware of the situation, Schultz said, though the organization prefers not to quantify the number of homeless kids here.

“One is too many, and the sooner we get going, the better,” Schultz said.

Bumke, now the Sparrow’s Nest board chair, said the high schools offer support for these kids in terms of food and having a place to shower, but they don’t have safe places to sleep. One 16-year-old girl said she was living in her car last summer at the WalMart parking lot, and realized her door locks didn’t work.

She put on her seat belt as a last-ditch safety effort, which was worth it, because a man tried to pull her from the vehicle at 4 a.m.

These kids have almost nothing, Bumke said, and they don’t want the stigma of homelessness following them around either.

“When they’re out there, it’s embarrassing and it’s humiliating,” Bumke said.

The schools will work to identify the students, which it already has; Schultz said Sparrow’s Nest worked with the Samaritan House to house six 18 and 19 year olds in a safe area, separate from potentially predatory adults.

There are a lot of moving parts involved – Schultz said all the organizations and schools must work together for this to work – but the result will hopefully be fewer homeless teenagers and more graduates. Sparrow’s Nest has also reached out to local businesses, such as LC Staffing, to provide mentorship and help these kids build a future.

Sparrow’s Nest will also function as a long-term housing solution, not just for emergencies. Bumke said a student could stay there through all four years of high school if their situation requires. The organization is already looking to add Bigfork and Columbia Falls locations.

“Our goal for them is they graduate from high school and they go out and be productive members of society,” Bumke said.

For more information on Sparrow’s Nest of Northwest Montana or to get involved, visit www.sparrowsnestnwmt.org or call (406) 309-5196. Volunteers will be needed for the Kalispell location remodel.