About winter homeless housing
SHALOM offers free housing and meals to Middletown homeless people. Signups begin at 4 p.m. every day at First United Methodist Church, 120 S. Broad St. A van transports people to the host church at 5 p.m. Here is the schedule for the rest of the year:
Jan. 10: Breiel Boulevard First Church of God, 2000 N. Breiel Blvd.
Jan. 17: First Presbyterian Church, 2910 Central Ave.
Jan. 24: First United Methodist Church, 120 S. Broad St.
Jan. 31: Breiel Boulevard First Church of God, 2000 N. Breiel Blvd.
Feb. 7: Christ United Methodist Church, 700 S. Marshall Road
Feb. 14: Healing Word Assembly of God, 5303 Dixie Highway
Feb. 21: First United Methodist Church, 120 S. Broad St.
Feb. 28: First Baptist Church, 4500 Riverview Ave.
March 7: Spring Hill Church of Christ, 2021 Brell Drive
March 14: Healing Word Assembly of God, 5303 Dixie Highway
MIDDLETOWN — The unseasonably cold temperatures — coupled with the chilly economy — are creating hardships on area homeless services.
SHALOM, which houses the homeless during the winter at area churches, and Hope House, Middletown’s homeless shelter, are reporting increased numbers of residents this year.
Roy Ickes, coordinator of SHALOM, and the Rev. Mitchell Foster, Hope House director, said their agencies have been at capacity for several weeks.
“It’s been tough,” Ickes said of the group that was established in 2003. To assure no one spends the night outside — especially during extreme cold spells — representatives from the agencies discuss the number of homeless every day, and make provisions.
For instance, when Hope House is beyond capacity, men sleep in the chapel, and women and children stay in the play room.
Bill Fugate, a member at Breiel Boulevard First Church of Church, which is hosting the homeless this week, said 27 people stayed at the church Sunday night. He said about everyone said they’re looking for a job.
Foster said 60 residents — many of them women and children — stayed at Hope House Sunday night.
Actually, the number of residents at Hope House dropped from 517 to 389 from 2008 to last year, Foster said. He credited that on the center’s programs — parenting, anger and self-esteem classes — for lowering occupancy rate. He said residents are staying at Hope House longer.
“We’re not meeting one need, we’re handling the total person,” he said. “So we’re not seeing the same person over and over.”
A more telling statistic, Foster said, was the number of shelter nights from December 2008 to December 2009. That number increased from 1,341 in 2008 to 1,629 last year, he said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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