Thanks to your support, our warming shelter housed teens and young adults who had nowhere else to stay this past winter.

A safe haven during the winter months

The past few winters have been challenging for young people facing homelessness in Burlington. All area shelters have been full, including the adult warming shelter that was launched four years ago, and our Drop-In staff often had to turn youth away at the end of the day not knowing where they would spend the night.

Luckily, thanks to generous community members like you, our warming shelter served 33 teens and young adults over the course of the winter who had nowhere else to stay.

One of the youth who came to us had been sleeping at the airport. Another, in a laundromat. Another, in a parking garage. Some stayed with us only a few weeks until they were able to find permanent housing, while others were able to move into the Landing, one of Spectrum’s residences, as beds opened up.

“The shelter provided people with an opportunity to regain some stability in their lives,” says Will, the Supported Housing Supervisor at Spectrum. “When you think about homeless people and housing programs, there are often people that just need a week or two of stability to get their feet back under them.”

“Last year, we had full occupancy in our other housing program and months-long waiting lists. That wasn’t really acceptable. We felt like we needed to do something about it.”

A community effort made possible by you.

The community truly came together to support this project. Bishop Christopher Coyne and Father Lance Harlow were kind enough to host the shelter at St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral. The Community Health Centers of Burlington donated cots, and the UVM Medical Center volunteered to do laundry. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf’s Good Food Truck and parishioners of St. Joseph’s provided many meals.

Financial support for the shelter was provided by the Argosy Foundation, UVM Medical Center, the Hoehl Family Foundation, Debra and Bill Gottesman, Vermont Federal Credit Union, an anonymous donor, Janet Farina, parishioners at Our Lady of Grace Church, and generous donors like you.

“The operation was really great. Being able to use their space was amazing” says Will about St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral. “Father Harlow, who is the priest at St. Joseph’s, came in almost every single day and helped out as well.”

When asked what he would like to tell community members, Will had this to say: “Thanks to everyone who helped support the shelter this year. You really gave people the chance to regain some stability in their lives.”

And best of all? We didn’t have to turn anybody away.

The post Everyone Had a Bed This Winter—Thanks to You. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

At our winter warming shelter for youth facing homelessness, the University of Vermont Medical Center and the Community Health Centers of Burlington have donated bedding and cots.

This winter, the Burlington Free Press and Vermont Catholic Magazine have shared the story of our winter warming shelter for youth facing homelessness, which opened in November in the Parish Hall of the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph.

The shelter opened this winter funded entirely by private donations, including from the Hoehl Family Foundation and the Argosy Foundation.

As Will Towne, our supported housing supervisor, put it, “We’ve been full pretty much every single night, which is great, the word is getting out, but it also goes to show that there’s a need for increased services.

“I probably don’t need to tell you how hard it was to turn people away last winter. The basic need of having a roof over your head is the most important thing, in order to get other parts of your life back together,” he added.

Writing in Vermont Catholic Magazine, Cory Fugere Urban shared this quote from Father Lance Harlow, rector of the co-cathedral and Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception parishes: “Each of us is committed to serving the homeless population during the cold Vermont winters, and I am hoping that our first year in partnership will help to save the lives of young adults who would otherwise find themselves in jeopardy.”

Thank you to our community of supporters for coming together to help our youth stay out of the cold this winter.

Read the Vermont Catholic Magazine article here.

Read the Burlington Free Press coverage here.

The post A place out of the cold for youth facing homelessness. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

 Jan Demers, Director of CVOEO. Photo credit: Burlington Free Press.

Spectrum’s most recent e-newsletter is online. Read it here. Below, a letter from Executive Director Mark Redmond.

The snow is gone… but a critical need remains.

This past winter, Burlington’s first Warming Shelter opened. This meant that homeless adults, even if they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, had a place to sleep out of the cold. Every night, all 28 beds were full.

It was a true group effort. The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) took the lead, Champlain College offered space, and several paid staff and many dedicated volunteers kept the shelter open from 6 pm to 7 am.

Jan Demers, CVOEO’s director (see photo), was on hand every night to open the shelter, and every morning at 5 AM to help clean up. I volunteered, too, along with other Spectrum staff. In April, we cooked an evening meal once a week—my grandmother’s famous scalloped potatoes were a big hit.

One thing’s for sure: the Warming Shelter filled a big need for anyone who is homeless and struggling with alcohol or substance abuse—and a more affordable alternative to the previous practice of giving them rooms in hotels. And people got out of the cold, but they also connected with services—several found transitional or permanent housing, employment, or entered treatment when the shelter closed for the season.

So, let’s be frank. Now that the weather’s warm and the sun’s out, it can be easy to ignore people in our community have nowhere to go at night. But there’s no better time to make sure that the Warming Shelter continues next year. Right now, we’re on the hunt along with other nonprofit leaders to find a building for next winter.

For so many among us, the need for a warm place to sleep, shelter, a home, is constant. I’ll never forget when Adam, a Shelter guest, turned to me and said, “You know what this place is? It’s home.”

If you have any ideas to share, please feel free to reply to this post and give us your suggestions.

Thanks,

Mark Redmond

The post “You know what this place is? It’s home.” appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.