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Joseph and Laura Riley hold each other last week at the Travel Lite motel in Wytheville, surrounded by most of their possessions. Photo by Jean Farley

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Seeking shelter

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

It’s getting late on the first day of February as the newlyweds cuddle in their Wytheville motel room.
Friday afternoon – that longed for time when the stress of the workweek slowly slips into the anticipation of the weekend.
Naturally, the conversation between the couple turns to dinner. It’ll soon be Friday evening after all, should be a date night for the new husband and wife. You think maybe they’ll go out to a nice Italian restaurant or get some Chinese takeout.
But it’s not the kind of food that’s being pondered by this pair. It’s just food, plain and simple. Well, they might have one preference – a hot meal. Peanut butter sandwiches only go so far in staving off hunger pangs.
The couple aren’t staying in the motel on a romantic getaway.
In fact, these lovebirds have no permanent nest.
And two days ago, they were told that they were no longer welcome at what had become their temporary home.
The Accusation
The labels are damning.
Prescription peddlers.
Drug dealers.
Heck, maybe even criminals.
Those are the kinds of terms that stick to your name when you’re told that you’ve been accused of selling pills. And that criminal insinuation, as it clearly states in the conduct policy, is grounds for dismissal from Wytheville’s Crossroads Shelter.
It makes sense, right? After all, the couple are homeless, logically desperate for money. People don’t always make the wisest decisions when they’re in times of despair.
But Joseph Riley has some other descriptions for himself and his wife, Laura.
Good people.
Hard workers.
And most certainly not drug dealers.
“I know right from wrong and that’s wrong,” Joseph said. “There wasn’t a need to do something criminal.”
Although they may not have lots of cash, Joseph said he has resources. The couple said that Laura’s sister, who lives in California, was willing to help them with expenses.
Just one day after arriving in Wytheville, Joseph got a job at Waffle House as a cook. One of the Waffle House’s regular customers gave him money and told him not to hesitate to ask if he needed more. 
Most importantly, Joseph said it’s hard to sell drugs when you don’t have any. Sure, Laura had a prescription for Percocet, a painkiller. She had a hysterectomy in early January.
Laura, though, preferred Tylenol. When the pain was bad, Joseph had asked her if she wanted the stronger medicine. But she refused.
Nevertheless, word got around the shelter that the Rileys had the Percocet prescription. Some of the other residents might have overheard the couple talking, Joseph speculated.
And Joseph was approached.
Hey man, let me fill that for you.
Heard you have the ticket for some valuable stuff there – would you sell me a few pills?
We’ve got money, food stamps, whatever you want.
“I said to both of them, ‘There’s no way in this world I would ever do anything like that,’” Joseph recalled saying to the residents who accosted him. “‘I’m not going to jeopardize my wife or myself in the shelter.’”
The Place
The Crossroads Shelter is located on Calhoun Street in Wytheville.
According to its Web site, the non-profit shelter opened its doors in 1989. Its mission is to provide “emergency shelter, basic needs and supplemental services to homeless persons and families of Southwest Virginia to facilitate transition to independent living.”
The shelter has 24 beds and serves single men, single women, married couples, single parents and families.
Last March, the Crossroads board of directors decided to go in a different direction. Instead of hiring a new executive director, the board members entered into a management contract with the Family Resource Center, a Wytheville organization dedicated to providing shelter and support services to domestic and sexual violence victims.
After six months, the groups met again in September 2007 and renewed their contract after agreeing that the arrangement had been successful. The two groups remain separate entities, but day-to-day operations of the Crossroads Shelter are now the responsibility of the FRC.
Patricia Helton is the executive director of the FRC and thus is in charge of overseeing the center’s management of Crossroads.
She acknowledged that the budget for the shelter is a concern.
“We’re understaffed,” she said. “If we had more money, things could be a whole lot better.”
For the current fiscal year, Helton said the shelter’s operating budget is $200,000. During calendar year 2006, before the FRC took over management, Helton said the shelter operated at about 55 percent capacity.
That figure, Helton said, jumped to an average of 85 percent capacity last year.
In the donation section on the shelter’s Web site, it states that it costs $45 per day to house each person at the shelter. Doing some simple calculations shows that housing an average of 20 people per day equals a cost of $328,500 per year.
Although the shelter does receive grant money from a variety of organizations such as the United Way and FEMA, Helton said a large portion of the budget depends on donations from individuals, churches and local businesses.
“I think it’s a very, very valuable service to the community,” Helton said. “It’s my utmost priority that the individuals that use the Crossroads are treated with the utmost dignity and respect.”
The Journey
Sorry Disney-movie aficionados. This story doesn’t have a simple, happy ending. Or really any kind of ending.
First, though, let’s start at the beginning.
Laura, now 42, and Joseph, now 44, met in early 2007 at a McDonald’s in Knoxville, Tenn., where they both worked.
After a short courtship, the two moved to Oneida, Tenn., where they were married on May 16 by a clerk at the local courthouse.
Eventually, Joseph found himself working at Burger King, helping to manage six or seven stores around the area.
Expenses for the couple, though, were high. Laura has been a diabetic since age 4 and a half and the cost of insulin and rent got to be too much.
Joseph found himself not making enough money and living in persistent fear that his wife would go into a diabetic shock while he worked long hours.
“I was worried constantly about her,” Joseph said.
Joseph quit his Burger King job and landed a temporary gig with Omega Cabinetry. When that position ran out, the Rileys decided it was time to look elsewhere for work.
Laura had a friend in Knightdale, N.C., so they went there first. But jobs weren’t any easier to find in North Carolina. They got back on the road with all their possessions loaded into their white Nissan Pathfinder.
They got as far as Mebane, N.C., where their gas and money ran out. After spending the night in their car, the Rileys were given food and gas money by a Presbyterian church.
Next, they made it to Galax.
And on Dec. 12, 2007, Laura and Joseph checked into the Crossroads Shelter.
The Policies
Helton makes it clear right from the beginning. Ethical guidelines prevent her from discussing the specifics regarding anyone who has received services from the Crossroads Shelter.
“Confidentiality and professional ethics prohibit us from discussing any client case in any circumstances,” Helton stated in an e-mail message. “Individuals that use our services are not bound by the same confidentiality guidelines and can share information freely – regardless of content or merit.”
Helton, though, was willing to provide plenty of insight into the way the FRC manages the Crossroads Shelter.
Four case managers are responsible for on-site 24/7 supervision at the shelter. Helton said that usually only one case manager is on-duty at a time, although occasionally shifts overlap.
The case managers are directly supervised by Lee Ogle, the FRC’s community development director. Helton said that she visits the Crossroads Shelter a few times a month, while Ogle usually stops in once or twice a week.
A case manager who answered the phone Thursday morning at the Crossroads Shelter said she couldn’t comment on the Rileys’ case and in an e-mail message Ogle referred all questions to Helton.
“We have staff that are given a great deal of responsibility and they’re not paid a lot of money – we try to give them as much training as possible,” Helton said during a phone interview Thursday afternoon. “I try my best to give whoever is on duty as much authority as I can to match the responsibility.”
Helton added that the case managers have the discretion to ask residents to leave if they are suspected of illegal activity or are causing a disruption to the community.
She said removal decisions do not have to be approved by her and that there is no specific amount of evidence required for a case manger to tell someone they must leave the shelter.
“We’re not police,” Helton said. “We have to take into consideration more than individuals. We have to consider the whole.”
When residents enter the Crossroads Shelter, they are required to sign that they will abide by the facility’s Rules of Conduct.
The rules are wide-ranging and prohibit weapons, non-prescribed drugs, alcohol and cell phone use in the house. There is also a 10 p.m. curfew and a designated quiet time from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day.
The Rules of Conduct end by stating, “Crossroad reserves the right to ask you to leave for violation of the program’s rules of conduct.”
Beneath that statement, the policy states that minor violations lead to verbal warnings and that repeated minor violations can lead to a termination of a resident’s stay. It also states that criminal activity will result in a dismissal from the shelter and possible legal charges.
“It outlines specifically situations where we would ask someone to leave,” Helton said about the policy. “Anyone that we felt was doing illegal activities, we would ask them to leave. We’re not going to tolerate anything illegal.”
The Rules of Conduct also state that all termination decisions can be appealed in writing to the executive director.
Within the last six months, Helton said she has received no written appeals of a removal. In fact, she said that off the top of her head she can’t recall any appeals in the 11 months that the FRC has managed the Crossroads Shelter.
“There’s not been anyone that’s put in writing, to my knowledge, that they have been unhappy and have been appealing a decision,” Helton said.
Last week, Laura said that she was too frustrated to immediately appeal her and her husband’s removal.
But during a second interview Friday morning, Laura said she had written out their formal appeal. She acknowledged that she has not turned the appeal in yet, but said that she fully plans to submit it soon.
The Illnesses
Despite the anguish caused by their removal from the Crossroads Shelter, Laura and Joseph said they’re trying to remember all the blessings they’ve received while they’ve been in Wytheville.
After being asked to leave the Crossroads shelter by 5 p.m. on Jan. 30 following a mid-morning meeting with their case manager, Joseph and Laura turned to HOPE (Helping Overcome Poverty’s Existence) Ministry Center for help.
HOPE put the couple up at the Travel Lite motel and provided them with gas money.
“They have been a blessing that place, the HOPE ministries,” Joseph said. “I tell you what they are awesome down there.”
Jane Richardson, disability benefits advocate at HOPE, said she has been working with the Rileys since Dec. 14.
“I became [Laura’s] authorized representative for Social Security disability,” Richardson said.
On Monday, the Rileys found out that Laura’s disability application had been approved.
“I couldn’t even talk, I was freaking out,” Laura said in describing her reaction to the news.
Laura would seem to have a strong case for disability benefits.
In addition to her diabetes, Laura said that she found out she had other ailments after visiting Dr. Kyndal Beavers at the Brock Hughes Free Clinic.
“I owe my life to her,” Laura said about Beavers. “Honestly, I do.”
When reached by phone Friday morning, Beavers said that as a doctor she could not give comments about any treatment she may have given Laura.
After being seen by Beavers, Laura said that she had a CAT scan scheduled for Jan. 12. On Jan. 7, though, Laura woke up in searing pain and had to be taken to the emergency room at Wythe County Community Hospital.
From there Laura was transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she had surgery to remove her ovaries and uterus.
She also was diagnosed with Addison’s disease, an ailment characterized by muscle weakness, fatigue and low blood pressure.
“I’m a mess,” Laura said. “Just put down that I’m a mess.”
But Joseph and Laura said that if their path hadn’t taken them to Wytheville, Laura may never have received the care that she needed.
“You got to think the shelter was a stepping stone,” Joseph said.
The Future
On Tuesday, Laura has another surgery scheduled at Roanoke Memorial Hospital – this time an open lung biopsy.
After that the couple may return to the Hostel of the Good Shepherd in Galax, where they have been staying since Feb. 5. Eventually Laura said she hopes they are able to move into their own place in temporary housing.
Joseph said that on Thursday morning he visited the Waffle House where his manager told him his job was waiting for him whenever he might be able to return.
When reached by phone earlier in the week, Joseph’s Waffle House manager said that per company policy she couldn’t give her name or comment much on Joseph. She confirmed, though, that he had worked for her since December and only stopped working because of spending time with Laura in the hospital.
“He was a very good employee,” the manager said. “No problems.”
Joseph said he isn’t trying to be vindictive toward the Crossroads Shelter or discount the benefits he and Laura received during their nearly two-month stay.
But he said he’s not willing to keep quiet when he feels that he’s been treated wrongly.
“I’m just that way,” he said. “When I’m done wrong, I’m going to stand up for myself.”
“We have rights, too,” Joseph continued. “And if this place is here and it’s funded by other people that are putting their hard-earned money into a facility, it should be done for the good of people.”
In spite of the stress of their situation, Joseph and Laura said they’re doing their best to keep positive attitudes.
“Right now we’re just taking it one day at a time,” Joseph said. “It’s all we can hold on to is our faith.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .