Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Cherry Gooch lives in the Dallas area, but she thought the money she wanted to use to help the homeless would go further and help more people in Clovis, where she has family roots.
Gooch has rustled up enough of her own cash and donated money and material since July to convert two houses at 712 and 716 Rencher St., in Clovis into new shelters for the homeless -- one for men, with a capacity of 28 residents, and one for women, which can house 12 residents.
Gooch said she wants the shelters to be much more than places of warmth and comfort. The walls are decorated as much by Bible verses and inspirational quotes and sayings as by pictures and other décor.
The name of the shelter, she said, conveys its purpose, "4 All of Us Transitional Improvements, Inc." She wants the shelters to be transition homes, especially for homeless veterans, and newly emancipated foster children to help them attain stability and find permanent homes.
"They leave foster care at 18," she said, "with nothing more than a birth certificate and a Social Security card."
Other target populations, according to the facility's brochure, include "abused men and women, at-risk teens and ex-offenders."
If they find their way to Gooch's transitional facilities, she said, they will receive guidance from employees and professional volunteers, along with workspaces with computers and screens for developing resumes, cover letters and other job-seeking documents.
She said establishing such a transitional facility has been a "passion" of hers for years, because of her Christian faith and her "nurturing nature."
She originally intended to establish a similar facility in Dallas, but costs and availability of suitable property prevented her from setting up a facility there.
She then set her sights on Clovis and has been building the facility and a staff since July.
The company is listed as a New Mexico corporation, with Gooch as director, with the New Mexico Secretary of State's office.
Gooch still lives in Dallas, she said, but lately, "I've been spending a lot more time in Clovis."
The Clovis facility, she said Wednesday, has been in operation for "a little more than a month."
Current residents in the Clovis transitional facility include, among others, a disabled veteran, Robert Lasky, who expressed gratitude for the reception he has gotten from the facility, and John Michael Silvas, who said he made his way from Lubbock and Amarillo to Clovis, and finds himself in eastern New Mexico as he looks for work.
The shelter "is a great facility. Everybody should check it out," he said.
In a tour of the facility, Gooch pointed out bedrooms outfitted with bunk beds and desks for workspace, kitchen and dining areas, lounge areas, laundry facilities and a large room outfitted with a conference table and work tables with keyboards and computer screens.
That room, she said, is for counseling sessions and helping residents look for work. There are storage areas for donated clothing and food, and one carefully locked and monitored area for storing medications.
"Every prescription and every dose is monitored and recorded," she said.
The bunk beds, she said, were donated by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where they were used in buildings being torn down.
"We picked them up with U-Haul trucks and brought them to Clovis," she said.
The facilities and furnishings appear clean and functional, but not luxurious. Most of them, she said, were found through the Clovis Marketplace online and from places like the Habitat for Humanity's Restore outlets.
"I have Lamborghini tastes but a Pinto budget," Gooch said.
People living in the shelter, she said, are subject to curfews, must sign in and out daily and face eviction if they break the rules.
"We had to evict one veteran," she said, "because he had problems submitting to authority."
Gooch said she has eight full-time employees as well as several part-time employees, and volunteers who conduct counseling and coaching for GED education.
Her full-time "executive or program director" is Eartha Hodge, who readily admits she has served a 20-year prison term for armed robbery that ended two years ago.
"I've paid my debt to society, and now I'm giving back," she said.
Since leaving prison, she said, she has held jobs at Albertson's grocery and more recently, as a community and suicide prevention support worker for Project Echo through the University of New Mexico. She is also licensed, she said, to teach others about how to use Narcan, a drug that counters the effects of overdosing on opioid drugs.
Hodge also serves on the board of directors for the New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union.
The transitional shelter, Gooch said, has received residents from the Lighthouse Mission, another Clovis homeless shelter.
Debbie Montoya, who works at the Lighthouse Mission, said Lighthouse has referred people to the transitional facility because, "we are a short-term emergency facility."
Gooch's transitional facility, she said, "has access to counseling and community services we can't provide, so we're happy to have this resource."