Over 35 Years and Still Serving
Mission —
Roanoke Area Ministries is an ecumenical organization that boldly serves as an advocate for the homeless and poverty-stricken, helping people in need through programs including emergency financial assistance, employment counseling and placement, a hot noon-time meal each day and shelter for the homeless. Our aim is to empower people to move from dependency to self-sufficiency and in doing so we build a stronger, healthier community.
A Hands-On Approach
At Roanoke Area Ministries, we have changed over the years in order to meet the needs of the community. No one knows this better than RAM Director, Debbie Denison. Debbie has worked with RAM for nearly twenty-four years. She began when RAM’s primary focus was emergency financial aid and was housed in the Carlton Terrace building, now Jefferson College of Health Sciences. Back then the numbers of staff, volunteers and people RAM could help were few. Debbie worked as the financial aid screener and she remembers being overwhelmed by the question, “How do you know you’re helping the person who needs help?”
As time moved on, RAM changed to help the growing number of homeless in Roanoke and opened the RAM House Day Shelter on December 7, 1987. Debbie helped with the renovations including painting the walls of what had been the Our Lady of Nazareth Catholic church with her daughter, Jennifer who was only seven years old at the time. Along with other staff and volunteers the building was transformed into a place for people to escape the harshness of the elements and find safety and a hot meal.
Throughout her time at RAM, Debbie has served in every capacity. She can recall many stories of her adventures at RAM such as the time she and other staff members assisted an elderly gentleman who had arrived in Roanoke and couldn’t remember where he had come from. Debbie was able to track down the man’s caregiver and provide him with a bus ticket back to his home. Before he left he told Debbie she was “an angel from God.”
Helping people comes natural to Debbie. She says, “My calling in life is to take care of people and I’m happy to be able to do what I love.”
The Director has seen RAM through a lot of changes throughout the past twenty-four years. She laughs and recalls plucking donated chickens, dressing up as Santa Claus at Christmas to give out presents to the children in the shelter, dressing as an apple for an apple festival fund raiser and many other unusual tasks in order to help RAM.
Anyone working or volunteering at RAM knows the faces are constantly changing. People get back on stable ground and then disappear from the shelter. People come back to the shelter months or even years later, all with the same question, “Do you remember me?” RAM helped a gentleman years ago during a difficult time in his life. He eventually ended up in the Richmond area and wrote a thank you note to RAM for helping him when times were tough. For years, this man has send a monthly donation to RAM as gratitude for being a welcome place for him during those times.
At the end of the day Debbie is deeply concerned with the welfare of the guests and with the future of RAM. She is also concerned with the increasing negative image people use to portray the homeless and poverty-stricken in our community. “I hope that before people slap a label on a homeless person they’ll stop for a moment and consider why the person is in the situation they’re in.” She admits one of the most difficult tasks RAM has is to help educate the general population that not all homeless people are drug addicts, alcoholics and criminals. Debbie says, “These people have families and needs just like anyone else.”
Believing consistency is key in the established ministry of RAM, Debbie says, “Our doors are open every single day because we need to be here for the people. They count on us.”