{"id":56857,"date":"2013-10-08T00:20:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T06:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/irvin-dedicated-to-the-needy\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:57:15","slug":"irvin-dedicated-to-the-needy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/irvin-dedicated-to-the-needy\/","title":{"rendered":"Irvin dedicated to the needy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"After
After 32 years at the Good Samaritan Center, Cindy Irvin crowns her replacement, Kristen Tworek.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cindy Irvin\u2019s presence at the Cortez Good Samaritan Center for 32 years was a blessing for thousands of needy families and individuals.<\/p>\n

Her dedication and spiritual approach to the job brought comfort, food, clothing and guidance \u2014 a gracious hand up for those experiencing tough times.<\/p>\n

Irvin seems ageless, her soft smile and piercing eye contact makes one want to straighten up and fulfill God\u2019s plan to be your best.<\/p>\n

The combination of empathy \u2014 ingrained since she started giving away her toys to the poor at age 7 \u2014 and tough love is simultaneously inspiring and exhausting, an emotional roller coaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cLetting go is very powerful,\u201d Irvin says of retirement. \u201cThe job has a high burnout factor, usually five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back, she\u2019s seen it all: Hardworking families devastated by medical crisis and car accidents, sudden homelessness from job loss, lives ruined by drug and alcohol addiction, and freeloaders who expect a handout and don\u2019t even say thank you.<\/p>\n

Depending on your attitude and lot in life, you might make her \u201cprayer list\u201d a spiritually vetted group Irvin gets a gut feeling about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can just tell there is something good, some hope in them that will prevail. Eight on my list kicked their addiction to drugs,\u201d she says proudly.<\/p>\n

But the Good Samaritan Center could not have survived this long with out the commitment of volunteers, community givers, generous grocery stores, and local churches. And it takes a special type of person, someone who is not willing to \u201ccast the first stone,\u201d as the biblical message says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they looked down on the clients, I\u2019d pray for another volunteer, and that usually worked,\u201d Irvin said. \u201cIt\u2019s a Christian ethos. For the difficult clients, love them with the love of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the center opened, area churches donated to the needy, but there was no coordination, Irvin recalls. Centralizing donations helped to keep track of clients better, and is more convenient.<\/p>\n

In addition to being a faithful servant, Irvin has political chops, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the job of churches to take care of the poor. When the government takes that over, it makes churches lazy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Loving your neighbor and discouraging panhandling also are part of her philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country suffers from a form of spiritual poverty. People don\u2019t even know their neighbors, people right next door who are suffering. A community should find people who need help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Handing out money to panhandlers does not help, she believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives them the wrong message; it spurs them to be beggars instead of doing something to better themselves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But the exception may be the mentally disabled who especially need our compassion because some are incapable of holding a job, often leading to a hard life on the streets for them and their kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can be good at getting hired, but they don\u2019t have the mental faculties to take orders, follow through and do the job day to day,\u201d she said. \u201cHave a heart; for some it is just impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Good Sam Center has kept files on its clients since 1981, and they now total more than 6,000. They have transitioned to a more basic charity organization, dropping the clothing donations and focusing on food and social services. Each year the center gives away $100,000 worth of food, which is dependent on donations.<\/p>\n

Irvin has praise for the new director and is overcome with gratitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod sent Kristen Tworek to fill my shoes, and she will keep the Spirit of God moving through the days ahead,\u201d Irvin said during a retirement party. \u201cThank you all, my young and old, hearts of gold, ornery jokesters, food bearers, organizers, criticizers, whole wits, halfwits, and misfits.<\/p>\n

I will now be free, reading a houseful of books and going to the library when I need more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Good Samaritan Center\u2019s new location is at 25. S. Beech, P.O. Box 662, Cortez, Colo. 81323. It is open from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 565-6424.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018God bless yous\u2019 warmed hearts for more than 3 decades<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[408,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-56857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-charity","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56857"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62702,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56857\/revisions\/62702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56857"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=56857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}