Community comes together for Central Park Place

Like many residents, Ewing was homeless — couch surfing, he said — before coming to Central Park Place. The 123-unit studio apartment complex has 72 units for veterans, 30 units for Columbia River Mental Health clients, with the remaining units divvied up among clients from YWCA Clark County, Lifeline Connections and Community Services Northwest.

“It’s been tough trying to find out what will get them out of their rooms,” said Tony Bartholomew, resident advocate at the property managed by Key Property Services. “You’re going to run into some people who have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), or just issues with crowds, with people, with noise.”

The promise of free groceries is enticing enough to get many to come downstairs. Central Park Place is a Vancouver Housing Authority property that houses people with extremely low incomes who will barter for food at the end of the month when Social Security or disability or military benefits are running out, Bartholomew said.

To qualify to live there, applicants cannot make more than 30 percent of area median income, or about $15,400. Many people come in with much less than that, or no income, said Craig Lyons, vice president of Key Property Services. Rent is $335 to $455 per month, which includes all utilities, as well as a twin bed, table, chair and dresser.

Neighbors help

Residents lacking food, clothing and basic household supplies isn’t anything new for Central Park Place, which opened in 1999. New residents often come in from the streets and need help getting back on track.

Evelyn Hallett, resident commissioner at Vancouver Housing Authority, explained this to Sharon Gutz, president of the Maplewood Neighborhood Association, who was looking to distribute money from the neighborhood’s annual Christmas bazaar. The two women spread the word, and got other people and organizations involved.

FISH of Vancouver, a food pantry in downtown Vancouver, recently began putting together weekly food bags packed with nutritious foods based on individual needs and dietary restrictions.

Their efforts add to what George Golden with LINKS, an organization that serves the poor through a food program and the military, started doing about six months ago after a VA employee told him Central Park Place could use his help. He drops by a few times a week with sandwiches, salads, pizzas and other food donations.

And Hallett got the housing authority to pay for a new refrigerator and freezer for extra food storage.

Resident Larry Helige said the food donations have improved his health.

“It surprised me the quality of food they’re bringing,” said Helige, a Cold War veteran. “I’m able to buy better food, more vegetables. I’m eating better because of it.”

After years of hard labor — breaking rock, logging and pulling green chain — Helige got to the point where he couldn’t work anymore, he said. At 55, he said he feels like he should still be working and has had a hard time transitioning to life at Central Park Place since he moved in 2 1/2 years ago.

“I’m finally getting back to where I need to be,” he said. “I’m interacting more with people. I didn’t much hang out with people (before).”

Some residents have difficulty trusting those they don’t know well. Others might be too proud to accept help. Most residents are men.

“They don’t feel necessarily that they either deserve it or that they are in more need than 10 other people they know here,” Bartholomew said. “It’s just the way they think.”

The Maplewood Neighborhood Association began putting together thank-a-vet packs, filled with toiletry items, and started serving occasional meals.

“The fact that they’re coming around brings other people out of their rooms — not immediately, but it happens,” Ewing said.

Gutz helped Ewing apply for C-Van, a transportation service for those with disabilities, which he said he didn’t know about before. Ewing had the lower half of his left leg amputated due to peripheral artery disease and now gets around in a wheelchair.

Gutz said she would like to see other neighborhood associations get involved, whether they give money, household goods or serve an occasional meal.

“The residents are seeing us all the time and seeing the results,” Gutz said. “It’s great to make them feel like, ‘Hey, maybe things are going to get better.’ ”

Bartholomew said he hopes to sustain the donations coming into Central Park Place, and he has gathered input from residents to determine their wants and needs. To improve life at Central Park Place, Bartholomew envisions installing a shuffleboard table and horseshoe pit, he said. Day excursions to the beach, Mount St. Helens or Oregon’s Multnomah Falls could get people out of their rooms and into the fresh air, he added.

“Some of it is because of transportation problems. Some of it is lacking resources or funds to be able to do anything. Some of it is their mentality. A lot of them suffer from depression,” Bartholomew said. “We try to get them out of their rooms, because we don’t want them to think there’s nobody who cares about them.”