Wasilla woman praises nonprofits for giving a hand up

WASILLA — For one woman, local homelessness prevention agencies have made all the difference in the world.

Elizabeth Slipher, now a resident of Wasilla, fled Washington with her two daughters last summer after the Sleepy Hollow Fire devastated their town of Wenatchee. Though Slipher’s home did not burn, the lingering smoke concerned her.

“My daughters had a really deep, scary cough, and they complained of sharp pains in their head and in their body, and I had temporary blindness for almost 30 days. When I woke up in the morning it was all black, I couldn’t see,” she said.

Slipher sold all her family’s belongings, except what she and the girls could carry, and left the home she had been renting for four years. A woman she called her “adopted grandmother” helped Slipher find a live-in nanny job, and she took it at the end of August.

But it wasn’t meant to be. She said the couple smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol, which Slipher objected to.

“I believe alcohol is the same as meth. I don’t see a difference, the way people’s behavior is, and the way their mind is just, nonexistent,” she said.

Slipher spoke from experience. She grew up in a trailer park in California, and starting using meth at age 14. For the next three years, she tried “all the drugs that they had” in the neighborhood.

“When someone is on methamphetamines, they have no conscience, no right from wrong, they just want what they want,” Slipher said.

But when she got pregnant, all of that changed.

“I was like, ‘No, nope, not gonna have a meth baby, gotta keep my beautiful daughter,’” Slipher said.

She said she stopped using drugs, moved to Washington with her mother and siblings, and started eating healthier. After the fire and the failed living situation in Alaska, things seemed to be taking a downward turn again, but Slipher was committed to giving her children a better life than she had. Still, she needed a job, which was difficult without a car or a permanent home.

Then she found Family Promise of Mat-Su.

“It answered my prayers completely,” Slipher said.

Volunteers with Family Promise arranged and drove Slipher and her children to doctor appointments, fed and housed them temporarily in their Nelson Avenue office, and helped her get the kids into daycare and registered for school.

A month after she came to them, on her birthday, she landed a job at Dairy Queen.

“I love it there. The people treat me so well,” Slipher said.

The good news didn’t stop there. On Jan. 1, Valley Residential Services set the family up in one of its rental units, with financial assistance from Valley Charities, Inc., the nonprofit behind Turn-A-Leaf Thrift Store in Wasilla. Family Promise facilitated private donations and movement of furniture and appliances via Facebook, and a week later acquired a free van for the Sliphers.

“All of it was a gift from the community. Everyone pulled together,” Slipher said.

Loi Davila, Slipher’s case manager at Family Promise, said she was proud of her client.

“I wouldn’t have had the strength to do what she’s done is such a short amount of time,” Davila said.

She also thanked the three organizations and the numerous churches she and her children stayed with while under Family Promise’s care.

“There’s no stress whatsoever, thanks to their combined efforts,” Slipher said. “Not many people get this opportunity, so I feel very honored.”

Help is out there

The Sliphers are one of hundreds of families assisted by the collaboration of several local nonprofits, including: Family Promise, Valley Charities, Valley Residential Services, Access Alaska, Alaska Family Services, Blood-N-Fire Ministries, Daybreak, Inc., Salvation Army of Mat-Su and MY House.

For more information on the above agencies and other similar service providers, call 211.

Homeless issues will be addressed again this year at the annual Project Homeless Connect event at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center on Wednesday, Jan. 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The one-day, one-stop event is designed to provide people experiencing homelessness with a range of services, including (but not limited to) health and wellness screenings, employment assistance and legal help. Free lunch will also be available for those in need.

For more information on the event, call 745-5827.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.