Reprinted from the Health District's quarterly publication mailed to district residents (Fall 2004)

Scott Laws never imagined that slipping on a tile floor at work would lead him, his wife, Susie, and their young children to homelessness.

A doctor’s exam revealed fractured vertebra and torn and degenerating disks in his back. Surgery wasn’t an option, since Laws had suffered previous back traumas.

Living with the pain, he continued working as a cook for as many hours as he was able. But when the restaurant closed later that year, he was out of a job. Worse, potential employers saw him as a liability. Within months, the Laws had exhausted their savings.

Unable to live only on Susie’s income, they could no longer afford the cost of their home.

“Families in a housing crisis are usually experiencing crises in other areas as well,” Kile says. Parents often are having to choose between paying for housing and paying for other needs such as healthcare, food, utilities and childcare. Children in such situations are two to six times more likely to experience ear infections, diarrhea, stomach problems, speech problems and malnutrition.

Neighbor to Neighbor gave the Laws the tools and resources they needed to make educated decisions about their housing options. Counselors help clients to live within their budgets, avoid eviction or foreclosure, find transitional housing, buy their first home, apply for assistance programs, develop education and employment plans, and work toward self-sufficiency.

The organization has counseling offices in Fort Collins and Loveland and also owns and manages affordable housing units in Larimer County.

Four years after knocking on Neighbor to Neighbor’s door, Scott and Susie Laws were able to buy a home and support themselves again.

With the support of his Neighbor to Neighbor counselor, Scott Laws went back to school to study accounting and Web design.

He still copes with back pain on a daily basis, but his future is brighter. The recent graduate now works from home, giving back to others whenever he can – especially to the organization that helped him turn a crisis into an opportunity.

His first professional project was developing Neighbor to Neighbor’s web site.

“I told them, ‘I’m donating this to you. You’ve been so awesome to us.’ ”