Mom’s Pleas Answered

Tina Clinkenbeard didn’t expect Spokane to rescue her.

By going public with her plight to stop her eviction last week, she hoped to make people see how hard it can get to stay off welfare.

All she wanted for herself was a little help with September’s rent, and some more hours at her parti-time waitress job.

But by Wednesday, Clinkenbeard had 11 job offers and her rent paid through November. One

stranger gave her $150 to buy new clothes for her 13-year-old son, Jeremy. Another sent her a $200 money order - anonymously.

“It’s made me feel wonderful,” Clinkenbeard said, sounding transformed. “I didn’t think there was anyone out there that did care. I didn’t expect a response. I was just trying to make everyone aware of what was going on.”

Clinkenbeard hit an emotional wall last week after a half-dozen churches and charities rejected her requests for emergency rent help and directed her to the welfare line.

She didn’t want welfare. She remembered what that did to her self-esteem. She just needed $247 to pay what she owed on rent for her north Spokane duplex, as was reported Saturday in The Spokesman-Review.

Late last week, the system started to work for her. The Omega Center, a nonprofit outfit that pools the resources of 11 Spokane churches, gathered $100.

“Omega was the only one that wanted to help me before (the press) stepped in,” Clinkenbeard said.

Dee Hopkins, a family services coordinator for the state Department of Social and Health Services, corralled another $147 for Clinkenbeard from Volunteers of America - and the September rent was covered.

Then came the gifts and job offers, including an invitation to work at a contact lens company that was willing to train her.

Clinkenbeard decided to stick with restaurant work. She started her first day Wednesday morning at Francisca’s Family Restaurant. She said she’ll be working enough hours to pay the bills and stay off welfare.

Between work shifts Wednesday, Clinkenbeard was trying to figure out how to thank everyone who has helped her.

, DataTimes