By Thea Jarvis

Larry and Ruth Lammers began visiting the picturesque mountain country near Helen shortly after they moved to Georgia nearly 20 years ago. The Ohio natives, who had first settled in Decatur, were smitten with the raw beauty and simple lifestyle the mountains offered, and set out for Helen as often as time would allow.

They bought a small home with about 60 acres of land – and an outhouse – to be enjoyed on long weekends and extended vacations. There the 14 Lammers children were free to spread out and roam the hills, valleys and streams of surrounding Helen.

Ruth opened a store in town – called “Tekakwitha” after the lovely Indian maiden whom we now call Blessed Kateri – that specialized in Indian artifacts and handcrafts and was operational when the family made their weekend pilgrimages.

As time passed, the prodigious Lammers clan decided their hearts truly belonged to the mountains. They packed their bags, said goodbye to intown living, and made the permanent move north.

Their little house was fine, of course, for short-term living, but wouldn’t serve for the long haul. An architect and builder were commissioned to replace the outhouse with indoor plumbing and the small but well-loved home with larger, more hospitable quarters for the family of 17, which included Grandma Lammers.

So was born what Ruth now calls “the monstrosity,” a 21-room, 10-bedroom house set on 300 acres of prime Georgia pastureland just south of Helen in Sautee, Georgia. It includes a large laundry room, oversized kitchen, converted garage, multiple skylights and a family chapel that is at once modest and charming.

Now transformed into Covenant Center, it is the base for Mountain Social Services, an arm of Catholic Social Services and a presence of the Church in the north Georgia mountains.

“I was perfectly happy about moving up here,” Ruth recalls, finding she missed the city pace “not for one minute.”

Meeting Ruth now, long after the pioneer move, before Helen’s notoriety as Georgia’s own Alpine village had spread, it is easy to understand how Ruth quickly adapted to the simple rural lifestyle. She is single-minded and strong, with an easy, outgoing manner that welcomes others without needless fuss or questions. Having nurtured 14 children, she is flexible and faithful, with an abiding belief in the presence of God in her life.

She and Larry and their family enjoyed almost nine years together in the mountain manse that combined open space, light, and wood siding with an architectural sense of humor bent on accommodating such an abundance of life.

When Larry died, three and a half years ago, “I just kept asking God what I was supposed to do,” Ruth remembers. Her answer – certainly not something she was longing to hear – was straightforward. She had been caring for others all her married life and was being directed to continue.

“That’s really all you know how to do,” was the spiritual reply, says Ruth, her face full of goodnatured irony. “People just kept showing up.”

It was true. For years, the Lammers home had been extending a welcome to teenaged friends, weekend guests, folks who had no place to rest their heads. “We had as many as 30 people staying at the house sometimes,” Ruth remarks in wonder.

This virtue of hospitality, so central to the life of the Lammers family, is the key to what now exists as Covenant Center, a haven for those who need to experience the support and structure that a caring Christian community can give.

Ruth has long since moved “across the street” to a six-room house of 19^th century vintage. She vows that her dream home is “a one-room cabin.” But her heart is in Covenant Center, where the beginnings of her ministry or hospitality became clear to her.

Richard was the first to arrive on a semi-official basis. A friend of the family, he needed a stable base and loving people to welcome him. Next came Bill, an old friend of Larry’s, who had been stricken with cancer. It was the family’s decision to care for Bill in their home. They brought him from the hospital and saw him through the illness that eventually claimed his life. Another elderly man, whose combined cancer and alcoholism was ravaging his body, was taken in and looked after until a place at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home was found.

By now, Ruth had totally abandoned any dream of a “dude ranch” she and Larry had entertained some time earlier. As more and more people came, the ministry of hospitality was superimposed on her life without her having time or energy to think about it.

“I was running myself ragged – here part-time, at the store part time,” Ruth admits, her eyes taking in the overwhelming expanse of Covenant Center. She aspires to be no paragon of perfection and has a real and healthy humility that is both endearing and edifying. Covenant Center had been operating as a house of hospitality since 1981. The one-woman staff was overburdened and overextended. It was time to call in the calvary.

Ruth approached Catholic Social Services with a cry for help. After careful research and planning, they were able to respond with interest, enthusiasm, and a commitment to support a full-time director who could coordinate the center’s program with professional expertise and sensitivity.

Jeanette Housen seemed the answer to prayer. Having worked for years with Habersham County’s Department of Family and Children’s Services, Jeanette was no stranger to the peaks and valleys of the human condition. Her credentials were impeccable – an undergraduate Education Specialist degree in Counseling with a master’s degree in Behavioral Science. Her common sense approach to people was even more impressive. Jeanette combines organizational skills with a real interest in those under her care.

Ruth breathed a sigh of relief; if she was earth mother, Jeannette would be soul sister.

With Jeanette Housen’s full-time appointment in September of 1983, Covenant Center was on its way toward implementing the structure and guidelines it needed to continue as a viable, productive facility.

Currently, the center, which leases two acres of Ruth Lammers’ pastureland for a nominal sum, houses 11 adults and three children. Since last fall, new residents have come to Covenant Center under an emergency plan in which the center gives shelter and care for a trial period of 30 days.

“If we see it’s helping them to be here, we usually let them stay,” Jeanette explains. If, at the end of the trial period, or sometimes, even before the maximum time of 30 days has elapsed, the resident is not progressing or cannot follow the rules and regulations of the house, he is asked to leave.

“We give them a home-like atmosphere. They have to learn to live together,” Ruth says matter of factly.

No dating or drinking is allowed during the time of trial. The rationale is that when someone is attempting to straighten out his life, no distractions are needed to make it more difficult than it already is.

Residents, some of whom have been at the center for nearly three years, are expected to hold down full or part-time jobs outside Covenant Center, as well as to contribute seven hours of housekeeping” at the center itself. In addition, guests pay rent and they are able to help with upkeep and operational costs. The dimensions of the place dictate a cooperative, responsible attitude on everyone’s part, and all are made to understand that only their help will make the center run smoothly.

The center, for its part, assists residents in getting back on their feet. Food stamps are procured, employment opportunities are sought out, medical and dental care is coordinated through the Village Health Clinic in Helen and the White County Health Department.

Jeanette has also incorporated support groups and practical coursework into the center’s offerings. A family skills seminar, conducted by a local psychologist/psychotherapist, focused on techniques aimed at healthy child-rearing and marital relationships. A woman’s support group enabled women experiencing loneliness and depression to share their concerns with others.

In all cases, Covenant Center stands ready to help and encourage, whether by talking to local tradespeople about job possibilities or taking residents to doctors’ appointment in town.

Richard Dennis, the center’s first guest, now functions as house manager, taking charge on weekends and during the evening hours, when Jeanette Housen has returned to her own home in Habersham County. During the day, Richard is in charge of the kitchen at the nearby Outdoor Therapeutic program, where kids in trouble are given a chance to work out their problems in the great outdoors.

Bob Vanderlinden, another long-term resident and working artist who has sold some of his watercolors in the Helen area, assists Richard in managing the house and seeing that jobs are done well and on time.

Because residents are required to take part in at least one hour of individual counseling each week with Jeanette, they are able to make a good start at sorting out their lives and the direction they want to take.

“Everyone who comes here wants to change his life,” Jeanette says of those who find their way to Covenant Center. “I don’t think we’ve turned anybody down,” she adds, although a chronic drug or alcohol abuser would, of necessity, have to be refused.

Residents at Covenant Center have included the battered and homeless, the misdirected and confused. Unemployment had overtaken some; others ended up at the center after living in the backwoods and shacks that were the best White County could offer them.

“Some are very straight; some are here because it’s either here or jail,” Ruth points out.

What most find at Covenant Center is the help to get on their feet and people who genuinely care about one another.

“I’ve made some new friends,” says Betty, relaxing in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

“And met some old ones, too,” Nancy chimes in. Both young women had attended high school together in White County and were pleasantly surprised to find each other at the center.

Nancy has just begun a job at a nursing home nearby. Her children are in day care while she works and come back to the center after work is over. If Nancy has the night shift, Betty watches the children, sharing a portion of Nancy’s salary which, in turn, enables Betty to pay a nominal rent at Covenant Center.

The operation, like most of its residents, must still struggle financially. As the outreach becomes better known, more guests are sent to the security of Covenant Center’s doorstep. Already, referrals come from the White County Department of Family and Children’s Services, the Forsyth County Probation Office, a women’s home in South Carolina, The Place in Cumming and the Sharing and Caring Program of Clarkesville,

It costs approximately $250 each month to shelter center residents, even with a bare-bones staff of only one salaried employee. Immediate needs of Covenant Center include bed frames and mattresses, curtains, bunk beds and a refrigerator.

As the success of the program spreads, more are willing to give of their time and material goods. Jeanette reports happily that the local Jaycees have agreed to sponsor two fundraisers for the center. She has been in touch, too, with the county Extension Service which will help plant a garden on the grounds to supplement the food supply. The center also receives either financial or material assistance from Baptist, Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches in the area.

The future looks hopeful, both for Covenant Center and its guests.

Climbing down the free-standing circular staircase that is the focal point of Covenant Center’s massive foyer, Ruth Lammers points to a statue of the Infant of Prague enshrined in an old clock housing on the wall. It was given to the center at its opening by Father Michael Hogan, pastor of Prince of Peace Church in Buford, she explains.

“The Infant is the one to pray to for a happy family life and enough money to exist on,” says Ruth.

So far, the prayers have been answered.