Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — Tonia Tewell took in a family fleeing a polygamist community in 2008, and after working to help find the parents good jobs and schools and clothes for the children, Tewell realized there was a greater need for help than what she and her family could provide.
"We started Holding out HELP in 2008, a place for displaced families to find clothing, food, shelter and basic life skills," said Tewell, the group's founder and executive director.
Over recent years, The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lead by Warren Jeffs in Colorado City, has seen large factions in the group's rigid structure. Hundreds have either been exiled for failing to comply to strict rules or have fled on their own.
Remaining members are forbidden from contacting or helping those who leave. Tewell said since they have started Holding out HELP, they have seen hundreds of people looking for aid.
When Tewell founded the organization, they mostly found women and children looking for help. Now, she said, the group sees entire families seeking clothes and food.
Tewell said not many people understand the culture in some of the larger polygamist communities and how hard it can be for those who want to leave.
Marriages dissolved, sexual relationships banned among FLDS faithful
As the year comes to an end and the followers of Warren Jeffs await the apocalypse he has predicted, they're living under a challenging edict: they're forbidden to have sex until Jeffs is sprung from a Texas prison.For the first few years, Tewell and volunteers had to work through clandestine means to get food, clothing and other necessities to those on the inside of the polygamist community who were looking to leave.
"Back at the beginning, we would meet with people on the outskirts of town at night to give them aid," Tewell said. "The funny thing is we noticed those we helped didn't want us to leave. They needed love and encouragement."
Tewell finally was able to find a friend in Colorado City who agreed to open her home to Holding out HELP.
"We would open the doors at 10 a.m. and close them at 10 p.m.," Tewell said. "We laid out paper products and supplies, food and clothes. Dozens of people came through the doors, looking for help. I would tell them, ‘You guys need friendships and need to be heard.' "
Tewell soon realized the group would need a permanent place to distribute aid and supplies. Holding out HELP was finally able to purchase an old, abandoned building that was once owned by the FLDS church.
Somtimes finding those who need help is hard, due largely in part to the way members of the group are taught about those who disagree with FLDS core teachings, Tewell said.
Many of the people in the polygamist community are living in complete poverty, Tewell said, but they will not enter the Holding out HELP facility for fear of being exiled.
"In Jeffs' group, if you disagree with his teachings in anyway you're called unworthy and cast out," Tewell said. "The leaders of the group have told the members that if they're caught coming into our community center they will be cut off. If they reach out to any outside help they will be cut off."
The new community center will open in the middle of downtown Colorado City on October 19.
I would like them to know that there are wonderful people who are willing to serve them individually. There are people out here that care deeply.
–Tonia Tewell
"We'll have an internet cafe, workshops for the adults," Tewell said. "In the summer, we'll hold camps for the kids."
Tewell said in-kind and monetary donations have poured in from different groups in and around Colorado City, including from eight churches of various denominations.
"These eight churches have stepped up to pay a month of utilities each for the center per year and have made substantial donations, from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church to the local Catholic branch," Tewell said.
For most of the people fleeing the tightly regulated polygamist community, leaving means starting over a new life with virtually nothing.
"They're told the outside world is evil," Tewell said. "I would like them to know that there are wonderful people who are willing to serve them individually. There are people out here that care deeply."
Donations for the new community center can be dropped off at the Holding out Help's Draper office at 142416 Bangerter Parkway.
