Doug Clark: The Lighthouse HUB in West Central shines a light for those who struggle

Joe Parham says this shabby section of Spokane’s West Central District was once part of his route for delivering illegal drugs.

Like a traveling salesman, he carried his wares in a handy briefcase, everything from marijuana to meth – step right up and take your pick.

Today, the 45-year-old is into dispensing hope.

“There’s practically nowhere in this town where I haven’t done drugs,” he adds.

But that was “before I gave my life to Christ.”

I met Parham on Sunday afternoon at the southeast corner of Mallon and Nettleton, which I’m told was once the site of a notorious drug house.

Like Parham, the property has been transformed.

The Lighthouse HUB, which stands for “Help Us Believe,” is a white, barnlike gathering place and meeting center for Off Broadway Ministry. Founded 15 years ago, the organization attends to the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the area’s down and out.

If not for them, “I would have never got clean,” a 45-year-old woman named Marcel Smith tells me. Living in a drug house and at the lowest point in her life, Smith credits Off Broadway with getting her a place to stay and helping her turn her life around.

“God’s using my past to point other people in the right direction,” Smith told a reporter for a 2013 story. “I’ve been homeless, I’ve been involved in drugs. I know what people are going through.”

At some point all conversations here lead back to the woman who invited me to come and see what was going on.

Janice Foland (just Jan to her friends) is a retired teacher and former “Volunteer of the Year” for Spokane County United Way.

Foland founded Off Broadway Ministry as a way to help this section of Spokane that is often associated with poverty, homelessness and drugs.

Felony Flats, some call it.

“Neighbors in a real neighborhood,” is the way Foland likes to describe Off Broadway’s role.

Since its inception, the ministry has established transitional homes for women and men as well as distributed food and offered free meals.

Ken Massender, who has known Foland for years, admits to being skeptical when he first found out about his friend’s plans.

“Are you nuts?” Massender recalls saying. “That’s a rough place.”

Massender, 68, is retired from a long career in the U.S. Army. He volunteered despite his concerns, although not everybody could warm to the surroundings.

One police officer who was working on the Lighthouse roof bailed out when the sound of a gunshot echoed through the neighborhood.

Massender said the policeman had apparently been shot at before and was still dealing with the psychological trauma.

Having the Lighthouse nearing completion “is wonderful,” Massender said, adding, “because I know what it looked like when it started.”

Foland, he explained, is one of those rare individuals who “sees the love in everything. How do you tell her no?”

Massender’s military experience tells him that “nobody walks intentionally into a battle.”

Those involved with Off Broadway Ministry, however, have never heard that rule before.

On Sunday, some 40 worshippers sat on folding chairs set up on the grass facing the Lighthouse front door.

Danny Green, a pastor, prayed and then strummed an acoustic guitar while he and his wife, Sherry, led the faithful in a few songs.

Not everyone was appreciative. While I was inside talking to Massender, several intoxicated men wandered by and began hurling abuse at the believers.

Apparently there’s still no shortage of souls to save in the wild and woolly West Central.

Doug Clark is a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. He can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or by email at dougc@spokesman.com.