'I'm here to help you'

COEUR d'ALENE - When Melissa Garland saw the SUV in the Walmart parking lot, blankets draped across the inside of the windows, she knew this was the one.

A woman and her son were inside. This was their home for this 40-degree Thursday night.

Garland approached carefully, and quietly called out the woman's name.

"I'm here to help you," she said.

A few seconds later, a blanket was pulled back and a face peeked through the glass.

"What do you want?" the woman asked.

Just to help get you and your son in to a safe place, Garland explained, so you're not in your vehicle all night.

"Trust me," she said, and asked the woman to follow her to a nearby motel, where she would pay for a room for the night.

The woman did as asked.

Over the next days, she and her son received money, food, clothing, furniture and gift cards, and after a few more nights in motels, arrangements were made for mom and son to move into a trailer.

"You name it. We just went to town," Garland said.

And all of this came after Garland and friend Ronda Nash spread word that two people were in trouble. Many responded. Some donated tips. Garland, a Realtor with Windermere Realty, said clients donated, as did family and friends.

"This community is very, very generous," Garland said.

It was Nash who alerted others to the plight of a woman she had known for years with this Facebook post:

"Today a mom at my son's school was parked along side of me when picking up her child as I pulled in her entire back of her truck was filled with containers with clothes as I pulled up I look over roll down my window and say Geez are you living out of your truck! She smiles and says yes I am homeless now ..."

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were sleeping in their vehicle outside the Hayden retailer because that's where they felt safe.

Nash quickly tried to rally help, and Garland stepped up. Another Facebook request led to more folks getting involved.

The woman was very grateful for the assistance and the showing of support, as was her son, Garland said.

The two should be able to stay in the trailer. The woman recently found a job, and will receive state assistance, too.

They had been homeless for three nights after moving out of a home that had mold, and was making them ill. To make it worse, someone broke into their storage unit.

Once she heard of their situation, Garland knew she had to help, especially knowing children were involved.

"It just tugged on my heart," she said.

This wasn't Garland's first time seeing a need and acting.

She once went to a house to do a budget analysis for a potential client and found the woman was sleeping on the floor, had no stove and was going to lose the house.

This time, Garland and friends quickly rounded up a bed, couch, stove, washer and dryer, and groceries.

The woman grew up in North Idaho.

"We all see the face of homelessness and don't realize how close it is to someone we know," Nash wrote.