According to a report released today, Greensboro’s seven winter emergency shelters collectively hosted 205 people between 12/01/2009 and 03/31/2010.
Some demographics about those who stayed in Greensboro’s winter homeless shelters this year:
Read more on Who stayed at Greensboro’s winter homeless shelters?…
On Friday night, May 15th, hundreds of area youth are expected to sleep outside at Grace Community Church on Lee Street to raise awareness of homelessness, in an event sponsored by New Jerusalem Cathedral (see video). They will sleep in safety, protected by Greensboro police officers, on the same grounds that church leaders voted to post with “no trespassing” signs last year, in response to large numbers of homeless people sleeping on the property. Irony. (Grace also housed dozens of women inside this year, in a winter emergency shelter.)
Read more on Awareness-raising teens to sleep outside where homeless can’t…
Photo credit: John Newsom; News & Record
Overnight temperatures in Greensboro last night were in the 30’s. Community winter emergency shelters (the WE program) all closed by April 1st, a two-week extension for most. Firefighters responded to an early morning fire in a vacant building at the corner of Lee and Aycock streets this morning. The News & Record reports:
Read more on Shelters close, temps drop, building burns……
Betty Ann Scott stayed at our church’s women’s emergency shelter for a while this winter. She had medical problems, mental illness and an addiction disorder. Shelter staff and volunteers reached out for help for Betty Ann. At a special dinner marking the close of the winter shelter this past week, residents paused to remember Betty Ann, who died shortly after leaving Grace’s shelter and being placed in a community-based residential program for the homeless mentally ill. The News & Record’s Lorraine Ahearn writes about mental health reform, Betty Ann’s death, and the system that failed to protect her:
Read more on Homeless, addicted, mentally ill: The death of Betty Ann Scott…
Sent this message to our NightWatch team today:
The WE program emergency winter shelter ended today. NightWatch should see more people on the street from now through next winter. The number of unsheltered homeless people has increased dramatically from last year. Greensboro Urban Ministry is seeing an increase of 30-40% in people seeking a shelter bed and Mike Aiken emphasized to me that these are NEW homeless people, not chronic folks rotating through the shelter. The WE program housed over 100 people. A number of those folks are moving into transitional or permanent housing, but the majority of them do not have housing, as far as I know, and we will likely see them back outside as we do street outreach.
Read more on NightWatch expects to see more homeless on street…
winter shelter ends, 2008
03/15/2008: “The cold weather shelter programs at both homeless shelters ended yesterday…”
Every year, Greensboro Urban Ministry and Salvation Army open winter emergency overflow programs, in addition to their year-round shelter beds, to keep homeless people from freezing to death sleeping outside. And every year, those winter shelter programs close as winter ends. Salvation Army closes winter shelter on March 15th. Greensboro Urban Ministry closes winter shelter when the dangerous temperatures end. Every year, homeless people go back outside as the weather warms up.
Read more on WE shelters increase awareness that winter shelter does end…
According to the 2009 point in time count of the homeless in Guilford County, conducted by the Homeless Prevention Coalition (HPCGC) on January 28th, there were 130 unsheltered people in the county, only 26 of whom are chronically homeless. Keep in mind that those numbers include both Greensboro and High Point. I believe that the team I was with counted 10 chronically homeless people on the night of the count. What are the odds that all the other teams combined only found 16 more chronically homeless people out of the remaining 120? Hmmm…
Read more on Breaking down the homeless count, part 1…
If you’re in Greensboro and you’ve signed up for winter shelter at the HIVE, First Presbyterian or Grace Community, but you haven’t come in yet, tonight’s the night to come inside. The forecast temperature for tonight (Sunday, Dec. 21) is 19 degrees and tomorrow night (Monday, Dec. 22) is 20 degrees. Wind is forecast for both nights. That is dangerously cold weather. Please come inside. I understand that there are many reasons that some of our homeless friends choose not to come to a shelter. But when weather is this cold, your choice becomes much more urgent. Emergency overflow shelter is also open at Salvation Army and Greensboro Urban Ministry. Please, please, come inside.
Read more on Frigid weather warning: Please come inside…
I’ve visited the women’s winter emergency shelter at Grace Community Church the past two nights, and it’s a peaceful and happy place to be. I already knew most of the homeless women who are staying there, but it’s so cool to get to hang out with them at night like this. It’s like a big slumber party, which is exactly what we all talked about at the library months ago, when I first spoke to some of these ladies about winter shelter, and asked what they thought about doing a women’s-only shelter at Grace. They were excited about the idea, and I have to say, it’s even better than what we imagined.
Read more on Shelter, safety, rest, peace: Homeless women find refuge at Grace…
Operation Greensboro Cares, a fundraising partnership coordinated by the United Way, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, the News & Record and other media partners, is raising money for emergency shelter (including winter shelter through the WE! program), emergency food assistance through food pantries, and emergency financial assistance with power and heating bills, to help keep families in their homes and help them avoid homelessness.
Read more on Operation Greensboro Cares raises money for emergency food and shelter…
Recently, during one of our street outreaches, one of the guys asked if I knew anyone who could help with his rent, because he and his girlfriend had some financial setbacks and were about to be evicted and become homeless. They had already been to all of the financial assistance sources that I knew of, and I didn’t know any other options for them. So all I could offer them was the hot food that we were serving — realizing how inadequate that was for their more pressing need.
Read more on WE!: Because you can’t cover up with a chicken wing…
I’ve been writing about local efforts to come up with additional emergency winter shelter, and about the increase in requests for assistance and decline in giving. Today’s News & Record features front-page, above-the-fold coverage of both those issues.
Read more on Struggle to meet financial and shelter requests is front-page news…