Record number of kids staying at homeless shelter

St. Vincent de Paul says it’s seen a sharp increase in the number of homeless children staying at the Gateway Shelter for Women and Families. Last month, the shelter cared for an average of 88 children a night, with 108 children on its most crowded night. That is enough to break a record in the shelter’s thirty-year history, according to Executive Director David Bohardt.

“No child deserves to be homeless, and not just at Thanksgiving or Christmas time,” Bohardt told Newscenter 7 Tuesday. “Homelessness, especially for children, is a frightening, lonesome, isolating, often punishing experience.”