shelterworks News from the Willis Dady Emergency Shelter
Rebecca’s
Recollections
In the middle of the night, two times a year, volunteers and staff from a variety of social service organizations in Iowa conduct a count of unsheltered, homeless individuals. This count is known as the Point-In-Time (PIT). This past July I had the pleasure of participating in the PIT, and I was assigned to the parking lot crew. All participants in the PIT met up at Willis Dady at 11pm with two goals in mind: safety and finding unsheltered, homeless individuals to outreach to them. From 11pm-6am on a warm night in July, the group I was assigned to set off to various parking lots, truck stops, rest stops, and 24-hour laundromats. We were circling a parking lot when we spotted a man sleeping in his truck with a local license plate. Unfortunately, in order for any one person to count as homeless, they have to identify themselves as homeless when asked. In this case, that meant waking him up. We knocked on his window; he woke up and was happy to speak to us. He informed us that he was a homeless Veteran and had been homeless for about a decade and a half; he served in the Navy for over twenty years. Even though we had woken him up, he was delighted to answer our questions. We gave him our business cards and told him to contact Operation Home if he was interested in being housed; in return, he gave us his number.
Over the course of the next few months, I tried calling him several times, but was unable to get through to leave a message. He was listening on that warm night in July, however, and he ended up contacting the Operation Home Outreach Worker. He became enrolled in Operation Home, and I was his assigned case manager. One of the first questions I asked him was, “How can I get ahold of you?” He informed me that he only answers his phone for numbers programmed in his phone; he then allowed me to program my number in his phone. Over the course of
Winter
2015
the next ninety days, he went from being homeless to being housed in an efficiency apartment, gainfully employed at Goodwill of the Heartland, and giving back to his community by volunteering at the Veteran’s Memorial Colosseum—all while building friendships and repairing relationships.
This January we will once again be going out and conducting the PIT count. These counts provide information on what we can do as a community to fill in the service gaps. If you would like to volunteer for the PIT count, please contact the Willis Dady Shelter at 319-362-7555. Community Overflow Weather Shelter System (COWS) Since August, 17 Continuum of Care (CoC) homeless providers have met to work out an in-depth plan for how to get any household into an appropriate overnight shelter on the coldest of nights. The current plan will allow for anyone—men, women, and children—to access “overflow” shelter beds at various shelters and to open a temporary “overflow shelter” location when all other beds have been filled at the pre-existing locations. Overflow will be triggered when the weather conditions are not safe for outdoor sleeping. The temporary shelter will be staffed by a Willis Dady staff person, hired for this purpose. Shelter Services through Waypoint will conduct all intakes for beds. Green Square Meals and two local churches will provide evening meals and a “warming location.” NTS will provide transportation to the shelter beds and overflow shelter. The largest expense will be staffing, provided by Willis Dady; thus checks can be made out to Willis Dady. The remaining expenses are for transportation (NTS) and supplies (sleeping cots, flashlights, etc.). These expenses will be incurred by various providers and will be reimbursed by COWSS funds.
Willis Dady Emergency Shelter Board of Directors Sam Jones, President Jim Burke, Vice President Melissa Cullum, Secretary Stephanie Harris, Treasurer
Sam Burges Trisha Cornwell Connie Donovan Al Fisher
Jill Kasparie Jim Koch James Locke Kayla Lyftogt
Dave McInally John Oates Nicholas Scott Janet Slimak
Gisele Tallman Jason Vestweber
Phoebe Trepp, Executive Director