Ten years ago Mandy Hyatt, 38, walked into A Ray of Hope homeless shelter trapped in a pit of drug addiction.

Strung out on methamphetamines, Hyatt initially would turn away help, yet shelter director Peggy Christensen had planted the seed of positive change.

Although it took many years — and many lessons — the seed eventually grew.

“I had come here and was strung out and Peggy looked at me and said, ‘One day you’re going to help people in recovery.’ I laughed in her face,” Hyatt said. “I had somebody from the meth community come and pick me up and take me away from this house. And here I am 10 years later.”

Hyatt is the new assistant director of A Ray of Hope.

“Everyone that walks through this door is broken in some way or another,” Hyatt said.

Founded 15 years ago by Christensen and her husband, Bob, A Ray of Hope began as a secondhand shop on U.S. 2. Now located at 46 Fifth Ave. W., the shelter is funded by donations from area churches and the community. A Ray of Hope provides resources such as food, clothing, financial assistance and spiritual guidance.

“We love the Lord here. This is how he provides for us,” Hyatt said. “It’s crazy to sit at this desk and watch him provide all day long. The guests call it God’s house.”

The white, Victorian-style building with bright flowers in the garden and large porch creates a homey feeling. There are two rooms for men and one for women.

A donated property at 106 Fifth Ave. W. is slated to be demolished and rebuilt to serve as a shelter for women, while the current building will be designated for men. The shelter already has a general contractor and Hyatt is busy with fundraising events. Building it will be matter of getting donated materials and volunteers.

A women’s shelter has been a longtime dream of Christensen’s. Since Christensen oversees a remote recovery retreat center with her husband in Helmville, she and Hyatt communicate via video chat. Christensen said they are looking for someone who could tear down the building.

“We have many of the trades signing up to have an old-fashioned house raising when all the material is there. I pray by next June if all goes well with funding, [we’ll] tear down and have the basement poured,” Christensen said. “This valley has been very good to us in giving a hand up to those in need.”

People who stay at A Ray of Hope are assigned various jobs in the office, shelter thrift store, cooking or other work.

Lonney Longwolf is responsible for the well-kept yard and flowerbeds. Sitting outside on the porch, Longwolf, 60, drinks from a carton of orange juice. He is thin and tan with a bearded smile and shaggy white hair covered by a baseball cap that reads “I heart Jesus.”

He has traveled all over the United States and recently arrived at A Ray of Hope with his bicycle hitched to a wagon containing his belongings. The wagon is marked with all the names of the places he’s been.

“I’ve lived on streets in every state except here,” Longwolf said about making the decision to seek shelter. “I was just tired of living on the road. I want to be appreciated for something.”

Hyatt and Longwolf banter back and forth. His hands were speckled with orange paint from painting rocks he arranged around one flowerbed to read “Jesus is the river of life.” The previous night both had attended a meeting at Family Life Christian Church. Hyatt teased him jokingly about going into a church with paint on his hands.

“You told me to come as I am,” Longwolf said, holding his arms up in a shrug.

Watching the fellowship between Hyatt and Longwolf — plus her zeal for life, recovery and her career — it’s difficult to imagine that she is a recovered meth addict.

“I was a stay-at-home mom and he [her ex-husband] left me with debt, left me with all the bills. That’s when methamphetamine was introduced to me,” Hyatt said. “It dried up my tears. I felt like I was 10 feet tall and bullet proof.”

First she lost her trailer home because of $500 in back taxes.

Then she lost her children.

“I lost my four children to meth, which was the worst day of my life. They went to live with their father,” Hyatt said. “They named me the lost mother out there [on the street] because I held a lot of pain when I lost my children. I checked out from the world for seven years. I was selling, using, I almost started manufacturing methamphetamines.”

The second time Hyatt got into trouble with police she evaded the law for another two years. She went to jail in 2007 and saw she was listed as a “transient” on her paperwork.

“I lost pretty much my whole identity,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt said Christensen, a recovery program at Family Life Christian Church called “Celebrate Recovery,” and her parole officer were integral to her decision to break away from the meth community.

“People who don’t have a family find a family in the meth community,” Hyatt said. “I didn’t have any family that was there to support me. I come from a broken family.”

Many of her friends have died from complications of using meth.

“My really good friend who had gotten clean with me — we had the same probation officer — ended up relapsing after three years of being clean and only lasted three months. He hit a double-tank semi. I said, ‘All right, God I’m done. I’m done watching my friends die,’” Hyatt said.

As her life is rebuilt, Hyatt seeks to reconnect with her children.

“You know it’s one of those things. I want them in my life. I stay positive. It’s all in God’s timing. Christmases and birthdays were hard at first. I keep holding on to his promises. In his time he will bring them back into my life. For now, I’ll just keep serving, helping others.”

Donations to A Ray of Hope may be dropped off or mailed to 46 Fifth Ave. W., P.O. Box 5407, Kalispell. The biggest needs are meat, cheese, canned soups, coffee, sleeping bags, bedding and toilet paper.

For more information call 755-4673, email arayofhope4u@gmail.com or visit www.arayofhopemontana.com.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.