They begin lining up when the sun fades and the cold night air closes in.
You could set your watch by it.
At 4:45, homeless women line the chain-link fence and sprawl on the grass behind Theodora House in west Denver. Some are there night after night. Others come and go.
Theodora House, financed and operated by Volunteers of America for single, low-income women who have suffered physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse, welcomes them all. The agency is applying for funding from this year’s Post-News Season to Share campaign.
At 5 p.m. sharp, the door swings open and women, some pulling wheeled luggage carts or carrying plastic bags with all their possessions, troop in.
They will get a hot meal, a bed and, most important, a secure place to spend the night. There is a lounge area with a TV and paperback books, a laundry room, a shower room and an eating area. Small, waist-high cubicles house 27 beds. Churches and other groups provide volunteers to bring in and serve meals.
At 8 a.m., they are turned out to roam the streets, then return when night falls.
Among them are Lisa, Ann and Kay, three homeless women who arrived at Theodora via different paths.
Lisa, such a big fan of Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer that she openly wears his No. 16 jersey, was in an abusive marriage with an alcoholic who couldn’t keep a job. Unable to pay the rent, they were evicted from their apartment and she spent four nights sleeping in an empty lot before she found Theodora.
During the day, she hits the Denver Public Library and scans the newspaper want ads for an apartment. “I don’t want to be here,” she said, but her rental history spooks would-be landlords.
Ann, who grew up in Aurora, is divorced and unable to work because of physical injuries. There are, she said, “a lot of rules here” but it’s safer than other shelters.
She’s been at Theodora for four months, nearing the limit of the six months the shelter allows in a year. Would she like to stay? “Good heavens, no!” She wants, she said, to get well physically and go back to work.
It’s been especially difficult for Kay. “I got injured at work and they terminated me.” Her move into the shelter, she said, was “the first time in my life I’ve been in one.” On the bright side, she said, “It’s a roof over your head.”
Staff writer Dick Kreck can be reached at 303-954-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
