Single mom now part of bigger family

Congregation accepts call to help homeless

John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

On Saturday, Angie Manzanares sat on a sofa with her 8-month-old son on her lap, listening to the Shabbat service at Beit Kohelet, a Jewish congregation in southeast Denver.

Manzanares, a 33-year-old single mom with a history of incarceration, drug use and homelessness, had never attended a Jewish religious service. But then again, she has been doing a lot of things for the first time lately.

At the front of the room, Judith Cohen, a longtime member of the congregation, listened as her granddaughter Eliza received her Hebrew name in a formal ceremony. When the ceremony ended, Cohen introduced Manzanares and her son to about 65 members of Beit Kohelet.

"This family is no longer homeless," Cohen explained to the congregation, which is one of about 175 faith communities that have responded to a call from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to help the homeless.

"I'm overwhelmed with admiration for Angie," Cohen added, describing how Manzanares has enrolled at the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, where she is studying to become an administrative assistant. "We are fortunate to have been given the opportunity to get to know her."

Manzanares said she became homeless in 2004 after serving a prison sentence for providing false information to a pawnbroker. She now lives in transitional housing with her son James while her five oldest children stay with her mother.

Manzanares is one of 103 formerly homeless people or families who have been adopted by various religious organizations in a multidenominational, citywide effort to steer them away from patterns that led to their becoming homeless.

The help comes in the form of money, mentoring and moral support, said Brad Hopkins, a Denver Rescue Mission employee, who is coordinating the effort.

"Philosophically, the thing we often see with our families is that they're lacking in healthy, supportive relationships," Hopkins said Sunday. "We're trying to re-create that in some way through the mentoring."

Beit Kohelet, a small unaffiliated congregation, raised $1,200 to help Manzanares move out of a shelter and into an apartment. Cohen and three other members also underwent training and serve as mentors to Manzanares.

Io Loechell said serving as a mentor was "right up my alley," given her background as a psychiatric nurse for the state Department of Human Services.

"I have a special interest in the homeless population," she said. "It's kind of like there, but for fortune, any of us could be in that situation."

Manzanares made lasagne for her mentors recently. On Saturday, she joined members of Beit Kohelet for a lunch of bagels and lox.

"The mentors contribute a lot of the things that I need," she said, while her son nibbled on dried fruit. "They give me someone to talk to if I felt I was going to give up . . . which I didn't."

Cohen said she is impressed at how Manzanares gets up at 5:30 a.m. each weekday to catch a bus to take her son to day care before going to class.

Introducing her to the congregation on the same day as her granddaughter's ceremony was no coincidence, Cohen explained.

"I guess because she feels like a daughter to me," Cohen said.