By Tim Leeds
Nancy Evans has left the Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen after 11 years to start her own business in adult daycare.
Evans, whose last day was Friday, has been with the kitchen since it first started.
"I helped cook the first meal there," she said.
Evans said she is going to open a daycare to give a break to people who have to care for adult friends or family in their home. She said she realized while her mother cared for her father, who had Alzheimers, that people sometimes need a break from the work.
"I thought, 'Boy, it would really be a service if somebody had a daycare for adults,'" she said. She said she wants to provide "a place where you can take a break from having to take care of them."
Evans said that after she received certified nursing assistant accreditation from Montana State University-Northern, she worked in the Alzheimers' wing of the care center for about a year-and-a-half. She said she worked two days at the care center and two days at the soup kitchen. She said working at both jobs was very difficult.
She said she will be providing the care out of her home, and she likes the idea of more one-on-one contact much more than working the entire wing of the center. She said people will be able to bring the adults requiring care in by the week, or by the day or by the hour. She said she would like to visit with them before she takes them as clients, to learn more about their situation.
Evans said she is working on receiving state licensing for the daycare, which she is calling Montana SONshine.
"As in Jesus, the son," she said.
The paperwork for the licensing is all in, and she is just waiting for approval, Evans said. She said her business will be open Jan. 1, whether the licensing is ready or not. She said licensing for this kind of business is not required, but she is getting it to make the clients more comfortable with leaving their friends and family.
Evans said Patty Horn, who helped found the soup kitchen and was director for about two-and-a-half years, is back in Havre and will be taking over once again. She said after Horn originally left, she and Judith Ellen Moody were co-directors for a while. Moody was in charge of the administrative side, and Evans was in charge of the kitchen, she said. After Moody left, Evans has been the director ever since.
She said the staff of the kitchen gave her a nice surprise two Thursdays ago, throwing her a surprise luncheon.
For more information about Montana SONshine, contact Evans at 265-9493.
