Runkle movin' on to Maryland

COEUR d'ALENE — When Trinity Group Homes executive director Deacon Robert “Bob” Runkle reflects on his time in Coeur d'Alene, he can't help but smile.

“We’ve loved being in North Idaho. We’ve loved the people, we’ve loved the scenery, the community. Particularly the community," he said Tuesday, seated at a wooden table in the Trinity offices in downtown Coeur d'Alene. “I’ve been really fortunate. I’ve taken a lot of gambles, but I’ve had really, really good jobs when I was working in business. To find this job at the end is just incredible.”

Runkle, 79, is retiring from his position as executive director and moving to Maryland, where he grew up, so he and his wife, Mary Beth Jorgensen, can be closer to family. His last day on the job is Oct. 15 and they will be heading to the Old Line State by the end of the month.

“It will be nice to be where my kids are, and the six grandkids,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to live in a place where they are.”

Runkle has been with Trinity since 2008. Trinity Group Homes, Inc., is a nonprofit that provides community-supported housing for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses. The organization offers programs that teach life skills while ensuring that those who need help have safe, affordable housing in caring, supportive environments.

Runkle was drawn to Trinity because he was restless with retirement and was used to being a proactive player within his communities.

“I didn't know much about mental illness when I started,” he said. “Just learning about what people go through who have the various types of mental illnesses, that's a real eye-opener, as well as learning how we can help support them so they can take care of themselves and learn to be independent.

"The whole idea is every person who comes through Trinity, we hope, becomes independent. They can take care of themselves, they know personal hygiene, they know how to feed themselves, they know how to make a nutritious meal with food bank food, they know how to keep the place clean. If we can give them that, that's a big step up."

In no less than 50 hours a week and many times more, Runkle has spent time with residents, made countless friends along the way and witnessed people grow into independent individuals from when they first walked through Trinity's doors.

“There were a couple guys that I’ve known who came here in just total despair," he said. "You couldn’t talk to them. Now they’re outgoing, volunteering in the community, doing things to help other people, and it’s all because of what the staff did with them while they’d been here.”

In 2012, Runkle was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist by the Bishop of the Diocese of Spokane. He has since served at St. Luke Episcopal Church in Coeur d'Alene. He said his position as a deacon does not regularly overlap with his work as the executive director of Trinity, but occasionally he will receive a call from a resident who wants to pray with him. He said it is not "an essence nor is it necessary, it's just I felt called at that point in time that God wanted me to do something more."

He said his church has provided much encouragement in his work with Trinity, which widely varies depending upon the situations of the residents.

“I’ve learned so much about the need in this community in this job here, and then as deacon working in the community. My church has been very, very good at giving me (support)," he said. "People at the parish donate money that I can use to help people, so I spend a lot of time in and out of the motels on Sherman and in the various places around town where people who have no place to live stay. I get to know them and find out what their needs are and can occasionally help fix a problem for them. Maybe it’s a driver’s license renewal, or a deposit on an apartment, or money to tide them over until their first paycheck comes in. The people in our church are just fantastic.”

St. Luke held a going-away party for Bob and Mary Lee after service on Sunday, an event that solidified how much the community will miss Runkle, and how much he'll miss the community.

“The hardest thing there was giving Communion to people for the last time,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. “I could not stop crying … I’ve been blessed.”

He might be leaving North Idaho, but the legacy Runkle has helped build will still need people to continue his work with Trinity and helping those in the community who are battling mental illness. He was pleased to say that Trinity will be soon become a program of St. Vincent de Paul.

"St. Vinnie's can do a lot of the things I do and not increase their costs much," he said. "It'll reduce the cost of Trinity, which will make it a lot easier to fund. Residents pay about 65 percent of the operating costs with balance coming from grants, and that's about $125,000 a year. That's not easy to get."

And although he can't wait to see his kids, buy a box of Girl Scout cookies from one of his granddaughters and keep working as a deacon in his home state, Runkle does foresee a bit of relaxation in his future.

"My ideal retirement is to sit on the couch at 10 o'clock in the morning on a weekday and fall asleep with the cat on my chest," he said, a smile growing on his face to accompany the twinkle in his eyes.

For information about Trinity Group Homes, visit www.trinitygrouphomes.net.