Title: House Pin Creator Speaks About Homelessness ELCA NEWS SERVICE July 12, 1996 HOUSE PIN' CREATOR WAS ONCE HOMELESS 96-WO-09-AH MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Lucinda Yates originated the "House Pin" and the concept of selling "wearable art" to aid the homeless. She is uniquely qualified to advocate for homeless people, having been homeless for two years. Yates told her story to the Third Triennial Convention of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America meeting here July 12 under the theme "Proclaim God's Peace." Yates has moved from homelessness to operating her own jewelry business, "Designs by Lucinda," in Scarborough, Maine. "Community involvement is vital to a whole and healthy self," she said. Fourteen years ago Yates found herself in "the unusual situation" of being homeless because of "a divorce, the Reagan administration and the choices I made" -- unusual and unexpected, she said, because of her "normal, middle class background." "I spent many nights under bridges, trying to sleep while 18-wheelers were roaring overhead. I was held at gunpoint and raped by two men. I lost my baby for two years to the care of my ex-husband. I was completely without resources," she said. Yates tells her story "not as a warning but to help you think about how people can get from where I was to here." "Women and children in our country are in poverty. Not only the poverty of possessions, though that is the most obvious poverty, but poverty of inspiration, imagination and a leading spirit. Inspiration, imagination and spirit will reveal the direction for change," said Yates. If the opportunity to change society does not appear, then offer shelter and a kind word, she said. "We must submerge ourselves in hope and begin the work only each individual can do." After establishing her business Yates tried to become involved with agencies serving the homeless, but she was rebuffed. The House Pin project allowed "a beginning and a connection to the past in a healthy way -- a way to help others -- and that is God's peace." House Pins are handcrafted for sale by organizations to benefit homeless people. The success has led to the creation of Book Pins and Music Pins. Women of the ELCA is using the sale of Book Pins to aid its literacy efforts. For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956