The phone in their room at the Lawrence Holidome works, but David Sears and Anita Owens don’t use it.

Instead, calls are made — and a quarter saved — at a nearby gas station.

It’s not even enough for a cup of coffee. But with only a few hundred dollars to their names, every penny counts.

The Lawrence couple have been living at the Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive, since Monday when a fire destroyed their mobile home at 1045 E. 23rd St.

Owens saved a ring. Both have coats. And that’s about it.

The clothes they wore Friday were new, purchased with vouchers from the American Red Cross.

Yet they are upbeat.

“There’s people in worse shape than we are,” Owens said.

And local organizations and residents are trying to help them despite tough economic times.

The community has shown more interest in helping Owens and Sears than in anything else since Sept. 11, said Jane Blocher, executive director of the Douglas County chapter of the Red Cross.

The only problem is that the two dozen offers of furniture, kitchen appliances and blankets can’t yet be accepted because the couple don’t have a home for the outpouring to go.

David Sears and Anita Owens have called a small hotel room home since Monday, after their mobile home was gutted by a fire. With a total of 00 in savings, Sears and Owens have begun searching for an apartment; the aide they've received from the Red Cross will run out Saturday.

A Eudora couple has offered to donate a trailer, but it won’t be available until February or March. Even then there is the challenge of getting it to Lawrence.

And the Red Cross is willing to help all it can, but more than a couple of weeks at the hotel would strain its budget. So Owens and Sears spent the past few days searching for a place to stay and enough money to make a deposit.

Friday morning they were out by 9 a.m., riding the T with passes provided by the city, and walking when they missed a stop.

“Walking helps,” Sears said. “At least you’re doing something.”

The couple met with luck at one church — receiving a small monetary donation — but found other social service organizations were out of money.

“There’s a lot of people in need right now, and a lot of people can’t donate right now because of the economy,” Sears said.

There’s also the problem of finding jobs. Owens can’t work for medical reasons, and Sears has been unemployed since May 2002.

He filed for his last unemployment check the day of the fire, and the couple has been trying to squeeze as much out of it as possible.

Without a car, finding work is a challenge. But Sears is confident he’ll be able to find some sort of paying job once he “finds Annie a place to stay.”

¢ Fire guts mobile home (12-31-02)

In the meantime, they try to keep their room clean, and they eat bologna sandwiches to avoid the cost of restaurant food.

“They are very adamant about not taking advantage,” Blocher said.

And somehow, they remain optimistic. They’ve been down before, the couple said. From there, there’s nowhere to go but up.

“Even the next day, after losing everything they owned, they could not have been nicer,” said Blocher.