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Program makes room at table for poor (Page 2)

 
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Who wants to help?


Squires and members of the Open Table have become a family. Standing outside Tempe First United Methodist Church are (Left to right) Squires, Cara Coleman, the Rev. Rob Rynders, Ray Thiry, Erin Burns, Sarah Sanders and Charles Schock.
Squires and members of the Open Table have become a family. Standing outside Tempe First United Methodist Church are (left to right) Squires, Cara Coleman, the Rev. Rob Rynders, Ray Thiry, Erin Burns, Sarah Sanders and Charles Schock.
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Watch "Partnering Against Poverty"

Rynders first heard about Open Table from two United Methodist ASU students in 2008. They were members of Paradise Valley United Methodist, the church that started the program.

About that time, he ran across an article about homeless college students that fueled his interest. But whenever he tried to start the program, people joined and then dropped out as he recruited others — including the two students who in the beginning were so enthusiastic.

“I was ready to throw in the towel,” he remembered. “I was just about to call Jon (Katov) and tell him to forget it.” But he gave it one more try. He posted the article about homeless college students on his Facebook page with the message: “If anyone wants to help, let me know.”

That post got the attention of Ray Thiry, who became co-chair of the Table.

“It was just something Rob had posted on Facebook,” Thiry said. “It was about college students who otherwise were middle class, had grown up middle class and just found themselves not able to make ends meet. There are plenty of avenues for help for homeless, et cetera, but when you have grown up middle class or upper middle class, it becomes very difficult to reach out. I remember when I was in college, I was in a similar situation.”


Ray Thiry, a music teacher, is co-leader of Open Table.
Ray Thiry, a music teacher, is co-leader of Open Table.
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Rynders was able to pull together the group in December 2010. The first step in the program is “breaking bread,” where all team members and the person in need sit down together for a meal.

“We started the process,” Rynders said. “We spent about an hour in a circle, just going from person to person, talking about why we were there, why we were involved. From there, it has just been amazing.”

Squires was required to “lay everything on the table” about her life. She also had to pass a drug test, a psychological exam and a background check.

“I passed with flying colors. I was surprised; I thought something mental might be there,” she joked. She has a great sense of humor, evidenced by two small tattoos on two fingers that make a handlebar mustache when she holds the fingers to her face.

It was her sense of humor and willingness to listen, learn and work hard that changed the perception of every Table member about who is homeless and in need.

“I have always imagined poverty to look a certain way,” said Thiry, a musician and teacher. “Dirty, living on the street, socially awkward … but it is funny, when I tell anyone about this group, I say, ‘If someone walked in, they would have no idea who was the focus person we are helping.’”

Burns, also a teacher, agreed.

“I remember Ray and (me) talking about it wouldn’t take a lot for a person to get into trouble like Casey did,” she said. “For me personally, if I didn’t have family, I would have been in that situation at one point in my life. It made me realize just how close so many people are to not having everything they need.”


Erin Burns, a teacher, said one of the biggest jobs for the Open Table is to provide encouragement to Squires.
Erin Burns, a teacher, said one of the biggest jobs for the Open Table is to provide encouragement to Squires.
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For Coleman, being on the Table was an opportunity to give back for all the love and support she has received in her life. Read Cara Coleman's Blog

“Everyone has something to offer,” she said. “Just being in a relationship is transforming.”

Ekmanis, another student member of the Table, echoes that thought. “To bring it down to this individual level of working with one person and to see the difference that this whole experience has made on their lives is a pretty cool feeling.” Read Indra Ekmanis' blog

Dreams and wishes

In the beginning, the group “plastered the walls” with sheets of paper containing all of Squires’ deepest wants and needs.

“They told me to just dream about where I wanted my life to be in a year. No restrictions; just dream big.”

Some of her dreams included re-enrolling at ASU, getting married and healing broken family relationships.

“They asked me what I wanted to work on first,” Squires said. “I said, ‘My teeth.’”

Squires holds hands with Tony Nenni, her fiancé.
Squires holds hands with Tony Nenni, her fiancé.
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When she was 23, Squires had to have her upper teeth removed, and she got dentures. She kept her lower teeth and spent thousands of dollars trying to save them. Fillings kept falling out. She lost essential nutrients because of the bypass surgery, which accelerated the decaying of her teeth.

“I was actually living with half of my molar broken, and every few months, I would get another infection,” she explained. “They said the infection was almost to the bone. I needed to do something, but I didn’t have any dental insurance.”

The answer to that problem came from the Rev. Jay Cooper, another United Methodist pastor on the Table, who had just finished a two-year mission trip to Guatemala. Cooper is the founding pastor of Jacob’s Well United Methodist Church.

“Because I worked with doctors and dentists in Guatemala, it just became as super easy as making one phone call to a mission team who found a dentist willing to give her thousands of dollars worth of work for free,” Cooper said.

Squires gets emotional when she talks about the help Cooper, Dr. Anita Elliott and Dr. Leslie Fisher gave her.

“That surgery saved my life,” she said, wiping away tears.

Nenni comforts Squires after she finishes talking about what the Open Table has meant to her.
Nenni comforts Squires after she finishes talking about what the Open Table has meant to her.
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Elliot told her the best option was to remove her remaining teeth and replace them with dentures. She also told her that Fisher, an oral surgeon, would offer his services.

As she sat and listened, Squires remembered, she never thought the dentist was planning to do the work free.

Neither did the Table members. It was a huge celebration for the entire team.

“That was when I knew Open Table was something that was going to work really well. It is just the networking that people in the position like Casey don’t have. People like us can come along and say, ‘Oh, I think I met someone along the way through work or whatever that I think can help,’” Cooper said.

“That is the United Methodist connection. Even in a program like Open Table, the connection works. It’s ‘Who do you know that is a generous person who can help?’ That is what Casey needed the most.”

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