It’s never fun to brave the cold, wet nights of a Pacific Northwest winter, but while most people are able to retire indoors at the end of the evening, others are not so lucky.
For the homeless community, finding a place to stay warm and dry for the night during the winter months is often a matter of survival. To help improve the chances of survival within the community, a number of local organizations have teamed up to operate emergency winter shelters on the Eastside.
For the month of November, the Redmond United Methodist Church (RUMC) at 16540 N.E. 80th St. in downtown, has opened its doors to house a winter shelter for women and children. Tonight is the shelter’s final night in Redmond as it will be at the Bellevue First Congregational Church at 752 108th Ave. N.E. in Bellevue for the next two months. The shelter will return to RUMC in February 2013.
A NATURAL PROGRESSION
Cara Scriven, the pastor at RUMC, said this has not been the church’s first time hosting a homeless shelter. They have worked with Congregations for the Homeless (CFH), as well as Redmond-based youth services organization Friends of Youth (FOY) to host their respective shelters.
“We’d already had that contact (with organizations serving the homeless),” Scriven said. “It was natural for us to open our doors to the emergency shelter.”
She said her congregation has responded very well to the idea of hosting the winter shelter, adding that members have donated dinners, towels and more to the guests.
“I think it’s the community’s job — and definitely the church’s job — to help those struggling to make ends meet,” Scriven said.
MULTIPLE ORGANIZATIONS, MULTIPLE SHELTERS
The shelter is run by The Sophia Way, a Bellevue-based nonprofit whose mission is to help end homelessness for women in east King County by providing shelter, life skills training, social services and supportive permanent housing, according to its website. In addition to the emergency shelter, Sophia Way also runs Sophia’s Place, a permanent women’s shelter set to open next week in a new space at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church at 3030 Bellevue Way N.E. in Bellevue.
Executive Director Helen Leuzzi said their winter shelter — which is open to women and children 17 and younger — is “really critical” for the homeless during this time of the year as the cold could be “life threatening.”
There is also an Eastside men’s winter shelter run by CFH. This shelter is at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church at 17222 N.E. 8th St. in Bellevue and is open to patrons from 8:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., seven days a week. The women’s shelter is also open the same hours and days of the week.
The men’s shelter is open through March 15, 2013 and the women’s shelter is currently open through the end of February, but Leuzzi said they have recently received funds from United Way of King County that would allow them to stay open longer, but they’re not sure for how long or where the final location will be.
“Our goal is to hit April,” she said about how long they want to stay open.
BACKUP OPTION
Although the winter shelter is leaving Redmond for a couple months, the city is also home to FOY’s emergency shelter for young adults ages 18-24, the Landing. The shelter is located at the Together Center at 16225 N.E. 87th St. in downtown.
FOY President and CEO Terry Pottmeyer said the Landing is open to young men and women and has room for 15 guests, but with the cold weather, they have had a regular overflow since October. She said the winter shelters came just at the right time as they have been able to send guests to the other shelters when needed.
“We found the winter shelters, in particular the men’s shelter, (have been) a lifesaver,” she said.
Pottmeyer said for most of their guests, the winter shelters are a second choice because they can be among their peers at the Landing, whereas the winter shelters often have more older adults. However, sometimes shelter and safety take priority.
To learn more about how to get involved with the Eastside winter shelters, contact The Sophia Way at (425) 463-6285 or email info@sophiaway.org or contact Congregations for the Homeless at (425) 749-8369 or davidj@cfhomeless.org.
