“I love it, I love it here,” said 50-year-old Mary Drazkowskicq as she held some of the Christmas cards she painted this year.
“Here” is The Gathering Place, a daytime center for women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Drazkowski has been homeless a good part of her life.
But in 1986, she found The Gathering Place, a center that provided her and her children with three meals a day, clothing, daytime shelter from the streets, and toys, shoes and school supplies.
It also helped her in another way — she learned to be an artist, a very good artist — through The Gathering Place’s “card project.”
Women who participate create handmade notecards and receive $1.50 for each of the cards that sell for $2.
Mary’s cards are so popular she sells about 300 a year, for an income of $450.
“When I do artwork, I listen to music,” Drazkowski said. “It puts me in a different (place). It is more like a home environment.”
One striking holiday card shows a snowman with stick arms and a black hat surrounded by a red border.
One year ago, The Gathering Place celebrated a milestone when it moved into a new, $8 million three-
story building at 1535 High St., a glistening structure that houses everything from saunalike showers for the women and their children to a nap room that has comfortable beds for daytime sleeping.
There also are the large, bright classrooms and computer labs where the women learn math and reading skills, earn their GEDs and gain confidence in the use of computers.
The meals are served in a cafeteria-like room adjacent to a sparkling kitchen.
There is “The Children’s Area,” where, according to Leslie Foster, chief executive of The Gathering Place, the staff offers age-appropriate activities that help children build self-confidence and learn creative self-expression.
The agency is one of many seeking funding this year from the Post-News Season to Share campaign.
The location is ideal for clients, Foster said. It is just off Colfax Avenue, which is where many of the women live in hotels or motels with the aid of vouchers. And it is close to bus lines.
Time is of the essence to women trying to get their lives together, Foster said, and by coming to The Gathering Place, they can obtain meals, groceries, hygiene supplies, telephones and mail and messaging services at one place.
“When they walk in the door, they know they are in a safe place,” Foster said. “There are things here that meet their needs. We think these are really strong people who are overlooked both by society and themselves.”
Foster, who has been CEO for 19 years, said she is awed by the strength of the women.
“I’m inspired because I see people who overcome the most intense obstacles and achieve success,” Foster said. “I see people in situations that would frighten me, and they act with great courage.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939
The Gathering Place
Address: 1535 High St., Denver
In operation since: 1986
Number served last year: 1,877 children and 3,628 women
Staff: 31 full time, nine part time
Yearly budget: $2.38 million
Percentage of funds directly toclients/services: 76
