Asked about Kalispell’s panhandlers, Samaritan House Director Chris Krager recalls an unexpected conversation his two children had 10 years ago. The family was leaving Walmart and driving past a man with a cardboard sign.

“My little girl was like, ‘That guy doesn’t have a job. That guy’s probably drunk. He doesn’t pay taxes.’ And my big brute of a son was like rolling down the window getting a dollar out,” Krager said.

Krager encouraged the children to talk about it, but they never resolved their different views that day. “The only thing they did say is they weren’t happy we didn’t at least talk to the guy.”

Since then, Krager has talked to dozens of guys with signs. As director of Kalispell’s only homeless shelter, he’s fascinated by them.

“Are they scamming? People always want to know if it’s a scam or not,” Krager said. “Do they not know about Samaritan House? Because that’s what we do — we fix this thing. And if they don’t know, is that my fault? I need to take some responsibility in this.”

Krager started a study in 2007. 

For 12 months he tried to talk to every panhandler in Kalispell. He made his pitch to 68 people: $50 for five hours of work around the shelter, lunch, a chance to do some laundry and a ride back.

About half said no. 

A few said no and told Krager to get lost before he scared off more donors. 

One man took the offer. His pickup had broken down and he needed a fuel filter to get back to a job in Idaho.

“He framed a wall and did all kinds of stuff for us. I went to pay him $50 and he only took $30 because that was all he needed,” Krager said. “He was amazing. I would have hired him.”

Fewer than a quarter of the people went to Samaritan House. People who enter the shelter can turn things around, Krager said, but it’s a program. That means a case manager with goals and measured outcomes, sometimes drug testing.

“Eighty-six percent of the time people leave Samaritan House not homeless any longer,” Krager said. “You’ve got to be fixing homelessness. Otherwise you’re just sustaining it with a meal and a bed for the night.”

People who enter Samaritan House usually are local residents who are “episodically homeless.” Chronically homeless people who follow warm weather north to Kalispell make up a tiny portion of the shelter’s clients and are much harder to get through the doors.

Krager still talks to panhandlers who pop up on Kalispell’s street corners, but he wonders if outreach efforts need to be improved. 

“If it’s a face you’ve seen more than once, odds are I’ve already spoken with them,” he said.

Samaritan House is at capacity and expansion will have to be talked about at some point. With a shelter, transitional housing and low-income apartments, there are enough beds for about 110 people. But beds are typically full every night and the Samaritan House kitchen served 34,860 meals last year.

Samaritan House turns away half as many people as it serves. “We have to have that very difficult conversation simply because beds are full,” Krager said.

The city of Kalispell is considering making panhandling a criminal offense. It’s not an easy decision to ban it or just let it go for Krager. 

Ending a person’s homelessness often means digging down into details and individual circumstances and finding what works for them. 

But Krager said he is sure about one thing: There’s a better way to turn things around than holding a sign and asking for money.

“It’s a lot more work. It’s not as immediate. But to get properly set up in life, I think there’s a better way.”

SHERRY STEVENS, director of the local United Way, said she agrees. 

Success stories are a hand up, not a handout, she said. They involve people finding places to live, jobs and their self-esteem. Stevens stops to tell the panhandlers she sees about services available in Kalispell. The infrastructure to help people is there, she said.

Earlier this month, several dozen organizations held Project Homeless Connect, a two-day event to help hundreds of people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and put them in contact with a wide array of resources. 

Most of those resources are available year-round.

Neighbors in Need, for example, is putting more money into gasoline and shelter vouchers to help people get a place to stay and get to work. “Because the Samaritan House was filled all the time we recognized there was a need to put some more money into that,” Stevens said.

Stevens said the panhandlers she sees aren’t local residents. 

She has seen some of the same faces panhandling in Missoula. And when they’re offered any help other than money, the answer is generally no.

“I don’t see our local people who are in need panhandling or standing out there with signs. That’s not a local issue,” Stevens said. “That’s an issue of people coming in from the outside.”

And panhandlers who don’t want to take advantage of local services should be asked to move along, Stevens suggested.

“The message I would give to people is even though your heart string is tugged by seeing a person standing on the street, they need to come to an agency with case management where their whole story is looked at and the resources are offered to help them get out of their situation, not just keep them trapped in it,” Stevens said.

“When you stop and ask them if you can give them a ride to the shelter or to the food bank and they turn that down, to me that’s a clear sign they’re getting more money by standing on the corner,” Stevens said. 

“They just want to stand there and get money from people in our community who are generous to give them that.”

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.