FAN helps Sisters mom make it through winter

It has been a long winter in Sisters. For Jennifer Shores and her 13-year-old son Dustyn, this winter has been especially bitter and grueling. Work has been on-and-off for Shores. Her rent has gone unpaid. Her electricity was almost turned off. She and Dustyn have been cold with no firewood for their wood stove, the only source of heat in their home.

Then one day about two months ago through a friend of a friend of a friend, Shores connected with advocate Theresa Slavkovsky at Sisters Family Access Network (FAN), and Shores says her life turned around 180 degrees.

"Theresa has been my guardian angel. She has changed my life," said Shores.

FAN has stepped up to help Shores time and time again. Without FAN's assistance Shores is uncertain of what her future might have been.

"FAN has made it possible for me to stay in Sisters. FAN helped me through the winter months when the snow was coming, and I didn't have wood. They dropped off a cord of wood. They paid $200 last month on my power bill. They paid my water bill this month, which was $177. I have no phone, no Internet for my son," she said.

But, according to Shores, more important than the emergency relief is the opportunity FAN is offering to her to connect with resources and skills to help her become an independent, self-sufficient woman and single mother.

"My goal is to get beyond where I am now, and FAN has helped me," Shores said. "They are educating me as to counseling and teaching me what kind of education there is out there that I can access."

Shores' husband died six years ago before she moved to Sisters. Slavkovsky is helping Shores secure grief counseling for both herself and Dustyn. Through Slavkovsky's assistance Dustyn has been accepted to attend Camp Sunrise in June at Suttle Lake. Camp Sunrise is a free camp sponsored by Hospice of Redmond-Sisters that is especially geared to help grieving children ages 7-14.

Slavkovsky also helped Shores enroll Dustyn in the Oregon Health Plan that offers health care to its members at little or no cost.

Through Slavkovsky's assistance Shores has an appointment for much needed dental care when the Central Oregon Medical Team's International Mobile Dental Unit returns to Sisters for a one-day clinic later this month.

"She (Slavkovsky) just talked with me for two hours about all of the things that I could get. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for a woman's exam. I haven't had this in years," Shores said.

Shores told The Nugget that she is very concerned that in June FAN is losing more than 60 percent of its funding because of federal budget cuts. (See "FAN struggles to cope with budget cut," The Nugget, April 2, 2008, page 3.) To help promote awareness about how FAN helps residents right here in Sisters, she decided to go public with her story, hoping folks will be encouraged to donate directly to FAN to make up for the forthcoming budget reduction.

Even in a small community, FAN's outreach is significant, FAN executive director Julie Lyche told The Nugget. Between July and December of 2007 FAN has helped Sisters residents with 161 connections to food. The organization has provided clothing 165 times, assisted with shelter 112 times, arranged for assistance with unpaid utilities 155 times and organized connections to health services, including insurance, 113 times.

Shores has lived in Sisters for the last five years, moving here from Salem about a year after the death of her husband. She told The Nugget that finding work locally has been difficult since she moved here but never as difficult as this winter. A waitress by trade, Shores does not drive.

"Currently I work part-time at Bronco Billy's, and hopefully it's going to be more as the summer goes on," she said. "I thought I was going to get more work during spring break, but because of the snow it didn't come. I'm a very hard worker."

Looking for a second job all winter, Shores says, the response is always the same: "They tell me: 'Come back in the spring.' I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I will work five jobs if I can get them. It's very, very tough."