December 21, 2011
Vol 13
No 51
July 13, 2011
Vol 13 No 28
The small agency in St. Charles County needs your help to help others in need.
Mayo on Your Ketchup? Information from First Step Back Home
IN this Issue
Paul Kruse, First Step Back Home founder, said many people call the ministry each day. “Sometimes it takes a day or so to get back with people,” Kruse said. “We have very limited staff, volunteers and funding so they just have to wait their turn. Sometimes they get help from family and/or friends for a week or so, but then they are out on the streets again.” Kruse said Maggie and her three daughters stayed in a motel courtesy of FSBH for a couple of weeks. She left to stay with friends, but tried once again to get in touch with Kruse at FSBH. “When we did make contact she told me she had been sleeping outside and eating mayo and ketchup packets for dinner,” Kruse said. “Thank God her girls were in housing, but they wouldn’t let Maggie stay. Can you imagine having to eat ketchup and mayo packets for meals?” Maggie’s plight began when her husband beat her severely and was put in jail, Kruse said. She tried to go to an abused women’s shelter but they were all full with no openings in sight. “We raised money to keep this little fragile family in shelter in a cheap motel and provide sustenance for her and her girls and counsel with her to keep her from going crazy,” he said. “At $200 per week, FSBH funds just can’t keep this up very long without more help. Thank God she is now back under our care and getting plenty to eat for her and her girls now that they are back with her. Unfortunately, this will be the last week we can afford to pay for her. We have already exceeded our limits of support per family. We have to choose to either give Around Town . . . . . . . . . . 2-6 Lincoln County Life . . . . . . . 7 School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-9
Maggie and her daughters enjoy a Christmas party courtesy of FSBH and founders Paul and Lana Kruse, also pictured. Photo by Ray Rockwell
one family all of our funding or spread it out to many others. We try to give a little to everyone who calls us and qualifies for our program. Our goal is to assist them to self-sufficiency while living in the motel but half the time the needs far exceeds our resources.” The fact remains there are thousands of homeless in Missouri with the same problems. FSBH works with the poor to help them find food, shelter, jobs, transportation, clothing and more. “We are a small agency trying to help as many people as we can but there are so many calling for help,” Kruse said. “We receive about 2,000 calls each year. We try to keep a $100 per person or family limit most of the time.” Some church groups and other organizations have adopted clients after FSBH has worked with the client for a period of time to determine their needs and their motivation to better themselves. Those “adoptions” have helped a great deal, Kruse said, but it just isn’t enough. “The amount of people who are in need multiplies every week and the
number of people out here helping seems to decrease weekly,” he said. FSBH needs volunteers and donations to continue its mission of helping the homeless in the St. Charles County
Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Christmas Traditions . . . . . . . . 11-13 Learn & Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Editorials/Recipe . . . . . . . . . . 16-17 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
MOVIE PEEK
and surrounding areas. For more information on how you can help the poor in your own back yard, please call 636.466.1365 or visit www.firststepbackhome.net. See MOVIE page 15
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” - Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox
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Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 What’s Happening . . . . . . . 20-21 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-23
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