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.

From left, Donna Aiken, Ray Racine, Keith Flaherty, Dylan Kerkes, Dan Maxwell, and Annette Delphia, of Hallam-ICS.

This is a guest blog post written by Ray Racine, Senior Control Systems Engineer at Hallam-ICS. It was first published on their blog.

On Thursday, March 23, six of our Hallam-ICS crew slept out for Spectrum. Donna Aiken, Annette Delphia, Dylan Kerkes, Keith Flaherty, Dan Maxwell and myself “braved the elements” for this great cause. Wednesday night got down to about 5 degrees (F); so 25 degrees on Thursday night was a blessing indeed.

Spectrum is a local organization focused on helping homeless teens and young adults. From a safe place to sleep, to counseling, to basic medical care; this fantastic group is dedicated to helping youth turn troubled lives around and grow into healthy, independent adults.

It is sobering to consider that in a small place like Vermont, this group serves over 2,000 young adults a year in the Burlington area. That’s 2,000 kids in really bad situations that Spectrum helps.

This was year six for their Sleep Out, which is one of their major fundraisers. The event raised over $347,000. Our team members were able to raise just over $7,000, which Hallam-ICS matched. That made our contribution over $14,000.

Executive Director Mark Redmond rallies the crowd.

So how does the Sleep Out work? We arrived at the rally point around 9PM. Pizza, soda, and coffee were served by local businesses. (Coffee, are you kidding me? I don’t want to have to get out of my sleeping bag until morning.) Mark, the director of Spectrum, gave a great pep talk. Everybody introduced themselves and their group affiliation. Then, one of the young people that has recently stepped into good, full-time, work—after a rough patch—gave her personal story of Spectrum. Really reminded everybody why they were there. Then, off to the outdoors.

We had a couple of feet of snow recently; so our sleeping area was nice and crunchy. Vermont Tent set up two big canopies (tents with no sides) and laid tarps on the ground. Everyone spread out to stake their spot. Cardboard as a ground mat provided insulation from the ice beneath the big tarps.

Under the tents, we bedded down for the night.

How did we sleep? Funny you should ask.

I run pretty warm; so I did not suffer from the cold—that was, until I rolled off of my matt and started melting ice. But, between the symphony of snoring, the crunching of ice underfoot, and the hourly ringing of the church bells, sleep was scarce. However cheer was in great abundance.

Thanks to the team, the employee-owners of Hallam-ICS, & our sponsors for helping to make this event so successful!

The post Sleep Out for a Cause 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.