A house that keeps filling

A fall brought a man to Las Cruces for medical care. What his wife expected to be treatment for an injury became something neither had anticipated. 

The man had been transferred after the hospital treating him could not perform the imaging he needed. Doctors discovered stage-four cancer, according to Christine Courtney, executive director of St. Andrew’s Hospitality House. The couple had been married for about 50 years, and when the husband entered hospice, his wife stayed at the Las Cruces nonprofit. 

She wasn't alone for long. Other guests staying at St. Andrew’s began accompanying her when she went to visit her husband. 

“The people that come in are absolute strangers,” Courtney said. “But over the course of one or two days, they become friends.” 

St. Andrew’s provides temporary lodging at no cost to patients receiving medical care in Las Cruces and families staying near hospitalized loved ones. Guests may arrive expecting a short appointment or hospital visit, only to find themselves needing somewhere to stay for days or weeks. 

Courtney recalled another woman whose mother was flown to Las Cruces from out of town for medical care. During an earlier hospitalization, the woman had slept in her truck because she did not know St. Andrew’s existed. A nurse eventually gave her a brochure about the house. 

For some guests, the shared kitchen becomes a place to spend time together between hospital visits. Courtney recalled people who kept seeing one another in the same hospital waiting room before discovering they were also staying under the same roof. Soon they were preparing Mexican wedding soup, tacos and enchiladas together. 

Those experiences reflect the idea behind St. Andrew’s, which grew from another family's need for lodging following Hurricane Katrina. Courtney said a woman stayed at a hospitality house in Texas while a relative was ill. She later settled in Las Cruces, joined St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and made a substantial donation toward creating a similar place here. 

The building was constructed entirely through donations, with volunteers and licensed professionals helping with the work, and welcomed its first guests in 2016. Nancy Haynes, a church member, served as its first director for about seven years. Courtney later joined as outreach coordinator before becoming executive director. 

“I love this job,” Courtney said. “It’s not really a job. It’s a calling.” 

Ten years after opening, the four-bedroom house is struggling to accommodate everyone who needs it. Courtney said it has been nearly full since April, and in some weeks, she receives calls from two or three medically related families when no rooms are available. 

St. Andrew’s recorded 95 bed nights during its first three months in 2016 and 765 during its first full year in 2017. By 2025, that number had climbed to 1,350. 

“We really try hard not to turn anyone away, but it’s inevitable that we have to,” Courtney said. 

The growing demand has prompted plans for a second hospitality house on an adjacent property, with the organization working to secure the property and raise money for construction. 

The proposed building would have individual rooms with one queen-size bed and a private bathroom, allowing St. Andrew’s to accommodate more guests without the two-bed arrangement used in most of the existing house. Groundbreaking is not expected before January as the organization completes financial work and goes through a 90-day process of notifying neighboring property owners. 

“We will be able to help more people,” Courtney said. 

Although St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church owns the property, guests do not have to belong to a particular denomination, and there is no financial means testing to determine who can stay. Hospitals can refer patients and families, while others learn about the house through medical providers or community organizations. 

Three bedrooms have two queen-size beds and private bathrooms, while an ADA-accessible room has a queen-size bed, futon, and walk-in shower. Guests share a kitchen stocked with coffee, tea, snacks and canned soup, along with laundry facilities and toiletries. An initial stay is generally two weeks, though it can be extended depending on medical circumstances. 

Courtney said she wants the house to feel like a home rather than temporary lodging. Some guests emerge in pajamas and slippers for morning coffee, while others prefer to keep to themselves. Some stay in contact after leaving, and others return when follow-up treatment brings them back to Las Cruces. 

Architectural drawings for the proposed building will be displayed during St. Andrew’s 10th anniversary celebration Oct. 17, when visitors can also tour the existing house. 

For all the recent demand, Courtney remembers a rare day when every room became vacant at once. Staff cleaned them immediately, knowing another call could come at any time, but the empty building felt different. 

Courtney told house manager Terie that the house wanted its windows opened. 

“It wants a day of just the wind blowing through the curtains,” Courtney said. 

Asked what those walls might say after 10 years of watching people come and go, Courtney first joked that they would probably tell her not to talk so much. Then she considered the circumstances that brought those guests there. 

“I think they would talk about the pain of the loved ones, the sorrow that these families feel,” Courtney said. “But they would also say, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being here.’” 

For Courtney, both have become part of the house. 

“I think the walls would have sorrow for what the families are going through,” she said, “but then it would have joy and peace knowing that it is providing these folks with a place to stay and be welcome.”