For most people, "charity" begins--and ends--at home

I have on occasion walked past a paired establishment on Central Avenue in Kent that is a combination drug rehabilitation home and furniture store in which people in need of long-term treatment work in order to reintegrate into society. According to a story in the Kent Reporter, city economic and community development director Ben Wolters stated that "It's a faith-based rehab program for folks trying to get out of substance abuse. They'll work in the furniture store and live on site in a dorm. It's a combination of furniture refinishing and repair, retail and housing." 

The store is called PriceCo, while the adjourning facility is called “Welcome Home.” The “faith-based” project is the work of the Canadian-based John Volken Foundation, which apparently operates several of these facilities in Washington and British Columbia. According to project director Steve Dalton, "We screen (applicants) with a fine-tooth comb. There will be no arsonists or sex offenders. We do background checks and find out what they are being treated for or if they are on certain medications."

I’ve seen a couple of these people outside; they are white, have most of their hair shaved off and sometimes have a “tough” look about them. According to the Reporter, it is expected that it will take a minimum of two years and up to three years for them to “graduate” as fit to be released into society, and be provided with assistance to find homes and a job afterward. 

Now, some commentary. It apparently took some time to find a “suitable” location to situate this facility. Unlike the proposed homeless shelter, officials in Kent went out of their way to find such a location, albeit one that was “out of sight.” They managed to accomplish this, with rather “visible” results. To begin with, the particular stretch of Central it is located on is, let’s face it, a highway with long stretches without crosswalks (Kent is the most pedestrian-unfriendly place I’ve ever been in). Nobody drives on it unless they are going somewhere else. There are several former furniture stores that are now abandoned buildings nearby. Whenever I walk by, I can’t help but to observe that customers are few and far between—with rarely more than one car in the parking lot—despite the fact that the building is new and looks quite tidy inside.

According to the Reporter, a similar facility in North Seattle is being moved elsewhere, no explanation given. I wonder if this particular facility will be a success by the time the first “graduation” class is ready; if it does last that long, it will probably take some of those millions that Volken made when he sold his business, United Furniture Warehouse, in 2004. For a facility that serves just 19 patients for up to 3 years, he is putting out a lot to save just a handful of incorrigibles. 

Still, I cannot find fault with the principle behind the project; helping people that society would prefer to discard is a noble thought, provided that these people want to get “right.”  The fault lies more with the assumption that society at large will sympathize with the project’s objectives and support it by taking their furniture purchasing business there. They may “sympathize” if they think of it at all, but even if the name of the store suggests lower-priced product, it is likely not enough to change the habits or minds of potential shoppers who think the location is just too “inconvenient.”

But more than this, the cynic in me senses that we live in a world where many people believe they are too hard put themselves to care. In 2010 the median household income (meaning half were below and half above) in the U.S. was only $29,000 while the mean (average) was $32,000.  Today that puts most households barely above paycheck-to-paycheck subsistence. People in this situation are certainly thinking of what is in their own best interests, and not some complete strangers who need to get their act together. I also frankly doubt that employees at regular furniture stores which are even more dependent on sales for their jobs are altruistic enough to wish they can lose sales to help a few recovering addicts.

Perhaps I am just being too pessimistic about human nature. Volken not only put the entire proceeds of the sale of his company into his foundation, but it also supports orphan children in Africa. But that is easy to do if you have money; these days, the only “charity case” most people know are themselves and/or families.