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Inundated shelters looking for emergency shelter assistance from churches
By Nissa LaPoint
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Photo by James Baca/DCR |
Homeless shelters are pleading with area churches to open their doors during cold nights this winter to help alleviate the lack of shelter for those in need.
Due to a burgeoning homeless population and crowded shelters, the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, Catholic Charities and area shelters are asking for help in providing a place for people to go during nights with freezing temperatures.
“The problem is that the shelters are full and we have all these people who have no place to go,” said Wendy Oldenbrook, program director at Catholic Charities’ Father Ed Judy House, a shelter for women and children. “We’re worried about what’s going to happen.”
Seven churches have stepped forward to open their doors at least one night a week to prevent homeless from freezing or suffering health issues from the cold weather, said Tom Luehrs, executive director of the St. Francis Center day shelter in Denver.
It’s a crucial need this year now more than ever because a downward economy has put more into homelessness, according to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative. Members of the MDHI committee made initial efforts to reach out to churches in downtown Denver but don’t plan on making an official call for help for a few weeks, Luehrs said.
The initiative found an estimated 11,377 men, women and children were homeless Jan. 24 when they conducted their Point In Time survey in the seven counties of the Denver metro area. Nearly one-fourth of these people or 2,402 were considered newly homeless and of these homeless two-thirds had children, according to MDHI.
The initiative counted 11,061 homeless in 2009—the survey was not conducted in 2010— and found that 2,941 of them were children.
But the numbers are only a representation of the homeless population and cannot be directly compared because the methodologies have changed, said Rebecca Mayer, program coordinator for MDHI. The next scheduled count on Jan. 24, 2012, will provide a more accurate picture of homelessness, she said.
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development announced its own findings on homelessness and found a 2.1 percent drop in 2011 across the nation, according to Secretary Shaun Donovan.
Yet the experience of homelessness in Denver has been different and the issue of short-term shelter needs to be addressed, said Virginia Longoria, executive director of Access Housing in Commerce City and co-chair of the Adams County Homeless to Home Partnership.
“We believe it is our responsibility to care for the homeless population and we encourage others to share that responsibility with us,” Longoria said.
Adams County has a 10-year plan to end homelessness, she said, and many other counties have organized short-term winter shelters to address current needs. In 2010, the St. Francis Center housed an average of 622 people a day, but in September and October of this year the shelter saw 350 new homeless people each month, Luehrs said.
“It can be very crowded here. It can be standing room only,” he said.
With others’ help, the city can avoid casualties due to cold weather.
“Frostbite has been a problem in the last few years. It’s been more of a problem than it has been historically,” he said.
One faith community, the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in Denver, agreed to work with the shelters and opened its doors a few weeks ago, he said.
As part of that decision, churches are provided with volunteers and guidelines on how to manage an overnight shelter. To help prevent dangerous situations, the shelters first screen the homeless before they are sent to a church, Luehrs said.
“What we’re trying to do won’t solve the problem of homelessness, but what it will do at least in the emergency situation … is help the quality of life for some people.”
Outside the church doors, those in line also received socks, lotion and for the children, a bag filled with toys, clothes and candy.
“There’s such a great need,” said Yanita Rowan, 53, who works with other volunteers every year to buy items for those in need at the giveaway.
She spent $1,700 to purchase 1,200 pairs of socks this year and passed out other items outside the church.
“It makes us feel great to help out a little bit,” she said.
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