Wedding Starts Shelter Off Right

Pat Meshishnek knew the Interfaith Emergency Shelter program she now directs had divine approval the night it began.

It was a bitter night in Coeur d’Alene, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society needed a place for 10 homeless people to sleep. Shelters were full, but churches were ready.

During the previous year, St. Vincent de Paul workers had courted churches, following a plan they’d found in Eugene, Ore.

Churches in Eugene allowed the homeless to sleep overnight on cots in their meeting rooms. Church members prepared hot dinners and cold breakfasts for their guests and watched over them at night. The homeless people spent their days at a day shelter.

Post Falls’ First Assembly of God Church liked the idea - what a direct way to dispense Christian charity. So, on that cold night last January, the St. Vincent de Paul station wagon arrived at the church door at 5 p.m. with cots, blankets and people.

As the crowd separated into various rooms, one young couple, appreciating the sanctity of their surroundings, confessed they were not legally married. They planned to marry, they said, when they could afford it.

Assistant Pastor Rob Wheeler didn’t need to hear more. He offered to perform a wedding if the couple wanted one. Someone found flowers; someone else called the bride’s family.

Within minutes and in front of a bluejeaned congregation of homeless families, church members and St. Vincent de Paul volunteers, the couple exchanged vows.

“We all cheered at the end,” Pat Meshishnek said, smiling like a child with a new puppy. “That very first night was so full of significance. It was cool.”

A potluck prepared by church members served as the wedding feast. Then the couple retired happily to a private honeymoon Sunday school room.

The newlyweds have moved on. People with heavy hearts, escaping abuse or dangerous neighborhoods, have replaced them. But Pat Meshishnek will always remember the wedding.

Run amok

Be honest - how many of you can’t move the day after Spokane’s Bloomsday run?

This year, prepare. The North Idaho Road Runners Club will help you with an eight-week clinic that starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at North Idaho College’s Boswell Hall.

You’ll hear experts on such things as injury prevention, nutrition and equipment. Then you’ll hit the road. At first, you’ll run or walk two miles. And by the clinic’s end, you’ll be a veteran of the Bloomsday course.

It’s worth the $5 cost. Call 762-3144 or 687-1097 to register.

A winner

Rathdrum’s Don Haney is on the list for a liver transplant. With $150,000 from insurance and $40,000 from raffles and other fund-raisers, Haney has enough money to start the procedure. But he needs about $60,000 more to finish the job.

It’s hard to beat the community spirit shown in Don Haney’s case. It’s nice to know people care.

Silver bells and cockleshells

Don’t fret if you have no space for a garden this spring. North Idaho College is planning a community plot with vegetable beds and areas accessible to people in wheelchairs. The idea is to grow veggies and give them to local shelters, churches and food banks.

Call 769-3310 by Friday.

Anonymous appreciation

The Iron Horse’s Tom Robb is the greatest boss in the world, according to a woman who wouldn’t give her name. Why wouldn’t she? “I don’t want him to know I think that much of him,” she said. But she added that he has a heart, as if anyone thought otherwise …

I’ll take best-boss nominations for one more week. Send them to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814. Or send faxes to 765-7149 or call 765-7128.