From the very start Vine Maple Place has been a grassroots effort.

In early 2000, two women who were members of a local church went to their pastor, explained VMP Executive Director Colleen Starr.

“They went to their pastor and they said they really felt like something should be done to help homeless families with kids, specifically moms,” Starr said. “The pastor quickly said, ‘That’s too big for us.'”

Steve Murray, senior pastor of Real Life Church, said the project came up at a weekly prayer meeting he was hosting at his office when the pastor it was first brought to mentioned it during the meeting.

“The pastor said, ‘If we don’t get the money we need for this by next week, then we’re going to take it that we’re not supposed to do this project,'” Murray said. “They were going to back off. I said, ‘What if we did this as a Kingdom Project?’ We decided to do a fundraiser.”

The money needed for down payment on the first four buildings that had two apartment units each was raised, Murray said.

To start off with there were nine churches involved, Starr said, who offered volunteers and resources “to make this reality.”

“At that time there was no funding, no mission statement … that’s when Ron and I got involved,” she said.

Now there is a mission statement, a well defined purpose for the existence of VMP.

“Our mission is to help homeless families with children build lives of hope, stability, and greater self sufficiency by providing them with transitional housing and support services,” Starr said.

Ron and Colleen Starr, a husband and wife team, took on running the non-profit. They got the organization its 501(c)3 status and started coordinating efforts to refurbish the buildings the group had purchased so they could eventually be used as transitional housing for single mothers with their children.

“It was just volunteers that got together and refurbished these eight apartments,” Starr said. “What was amazing was that it wasn’t just churches; it was businesses, it was school groups, it was scout troops. This really has been a grassroots effort right from the start.”

And the only government money VMP has received has been from the city of Maple Valley which has provided community development grants.

For the first two years of its existence Vine Maple had no paid staff until a case manager was hired in 2002. The Starrs are paid salaries, but they both donate 100 percent of those back to the organization.

Initially VMP accepted families with children 12 and under, now families can move in with kids up to 18 years old, and beginning in 2007 they began taking in families with both parents as well as single dads.

“Bringing a male into the program required a different emphasis on issues and programs and blending them into the community,” Ron Starr. “And teenagers represent some unique challenges.”

In 2005, Ron Starr said, work began on Vine Maple Gardens, a second small group of apartments with six units off of Witte Road.

The buildings were stripped down to the studs and as volunteers worked they wrote scripture onto the wooden ribs of the structures so the residents would be surrounded by God’s word.

Being Christian, Ron Starr said, “defines who we are, but not who we serve.”

More than $400,000 worth of work was done on Gardens, as they second complex is affectionately known, but Ron Starr said the “hard costs were just over $40,000.”

“People donated materials, people donated labor, professional businesses did that because it was in their community,” he said.

And after more than two years of work by the all volunteer, all donation force, Vine Maple Gardens opened to six more families in November 2007.

As Vine Maple has grown and changed, more services have added, and the emphasis on education has become more important though it’s been harder to get clients into programs.

Colleen Starr explained that there is a trickle down effect due to the economy and as a result “we’re seeing more families now … we’re having more competition for housing, for jobs, for everything.”

Competition for things like spots in job training programs, one of the critical services offered to parents who stay at VMP, because moms and dads are given two years max in the transitional housing.

In that time they are expected to get back onto their feet by getting counseling, learning how to manage their finances, how to better parent their children as well as going to school to brush up on old skills or to go through career-oriented programs that can take 18 months.

“If we only allow them to stay here for two years and they can’t get into an education program for six months to a year, then there’s no way they’ll finish that in two years,” Colleen Starr said.

The demand for educational programs is not the only area where the economy has impacted VMP, in fact, that’s just a symptom.

Colleen Starr said that since it first began taking in families, VMP has helped 191 parents and children, but in 2008 they turned away 1,200 while in 2009 they turned away more than 2,800 seeking help.

In an effort to provide more housing without buying more properties, in 2009 staff at VMP created Safe Landing, which has become especially important because it allows the non-profit to continue helping families after their two year stay in the transitional housing is up.

“What we’ve done is we go out and we lease apartments in the community,” Colleen Starr Said. “We take stable functioning families who have been here at Vine Maple Place and move those families into apartments off-site. They continue in the program, they continue going to school, they continue job hunting. That’s how we continue to build the program.”

It allows those staying there to continue to take advantage of the services provided such as child advocates who help the parents help their youngsters with school, for example.

Every Tuesday there is a Life Skills class for the families where they learn about a variety of things like goal setting.

There’s also monthly meetings with financial coaches, explained Carra Purvis, who serves as the development coordinator for VMP.

Financial coaches teach the parents about the importance of keeping receipts, organizing a budget, and eventually “a real functional budget, which takes several months.”

“If you can learn to budget a little, you can learn to budget a lot,” Purvis said. “We’re very big on budgeting an emergency fund so they don’t have emergencies anymore. Then further along we work on debt reduction. So, after two years with us … they have all the tools that they need.”

Tina McDonough, a realtor with Windermere Real Estate Maple Valley, had supported VMP for the past five years because of the work they do.

“We just made personal goals at the beginning of 2005 and one of my goals was to help homeless families and their children,” McDonough said. “The more I got involved and the more that I saw, it was just a no-brainer.”

One of the biggest appeals for McDonough is the fact there’s a tangible result for her time and effort.

“A lot of people will give to various things but they don’t get to see their money at work,” she said. “When you give your money (to VMP) you can actually drive by the facility and see what it’s doing.”

During December, McDonough and her husband hosted more than 80 people at their home to raise money for VMP, bringing in $3,000 in cash donations, $4,000 in toys and 800 pounds of food.

“It was one of those nights where everyone was able to give back while celebrating the spirit of the holidays,” McDonough said. “It shows people that one person has the power of making a different. You make a few phone calls and people want to step up to the plate and help.”

McDonough said VMP has been embraced not just by the churches, of which there are now 30 supporting the organization, but by individuals and businesses as well.

“That’s what is really neat,” she said. “It’s the community.”

Murray of Real Life Church, which has supported VMP since it was just a concept, said there’s three keys to Vine Maple’s success.

“The cooperation of all the churches,” Murray said. “Everybody contributes in as they’re able in some way, form or fashion. Second is that it wasn’t limited to churches. The business community has supported the effort. Even though it’s sponsored by the churches … it’s actually owned by our community.

“The third thing is Ron and Colleen Starr. Their contribution is what has made Vine Maple Place what it is today. The spirit of intent is pure and it’s guarded by the board and Ron and Colleen Starr and the churches and the people of Maple Valley.”

But, VMP has had an even greater impact on the people who support it.

“It has unified our community,” Murray said. “It has caused people of different faiths, different political persuasions, different backgrounds … to all work hand in hand together.”