Local churches expand services for homeless during COVID-19 outbreak
While government-mandated social-distancing measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19 have forced some local homeless shelters to reduce the number of people they serve, a familiar force is stepping in to help fill the gap: local churches.
Preliminary data from the 2020 Point-in-Time count shows 562 people living unsheltered in Thurston County. Six more people were staying in hospitals or jail, 107 with friends and family, 298 more were living in shelters and 168 in transitional housing.
As of last week, four area shelters had lost a combined 37% of their shelter capacity under social-distancing guidelines, according to Keylee Marineau, Homeless Prevention and Affordable Housing Coordinator for the county.
The restrictions displaced 78 people, Marineau told The Olympian.
Churches step in, stretch services
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lacey and Saint Michael Parish in Olympia typically partner to run a 15-bed overnight shelter for homeless men during cold-weather season, Nov. 1 to April 30. Saint Michael’s hosts Monday through Thursday, and Sacred Heart hosts Friday through Sunday.
But, in light of the current crisis, the churches reevaluated and expanded their efforts.
They doubled their men’s shelter to 30 beds while maintaining social distancing. Volunteers will host and feed guests every night of the week through the end of this crisis at Saint Michael in Olympia, Kim Kondrat, Steward for Community Outreach at Saint Michael, told The Olympian.
This week, the churches also started readying Sacred Heart’s Hallen Hall, typically a congregation gathering space, to start providing hygiene services for all genders and ages next week.
Inside the hall, chairs now sit in four single-file rows, each 6 feet from the chair in front of it. Two rows are for women and men who need to use the restroom, two for those who need to shower. Long tables are set up with chairs or pews on each of the short ends, ready for volunteers to deliver food in the middle while maintaining 6 feet of space.
As guests file in, a volunteer in personal protective gear will take their temperature, screen them for symptoms, and ask what services they’re looking for, Kondrat says. She estimates the churches will be able to offer 32 people 15-minute showers each day.
The churches also set up rooms in Hallen Hall to host 10 women overnight, with the same model they run at St. Michael.
Whether they’ll be able to do that hinges on finding volunteers. It’s been a challenge, Kondrat said, with seniors being told to stay home by state and public health officials because of their increased risk of COVID-19 complications.
Volunteers can sign up online at http://saintmichaelparish.org or by calling Saint Michael Parish at 360-754-4667. Serving as an overnight host requires a background check and completion of a free online training course, according to Kondrat.
Many churches have these open gathering spaces, and Kondrat is calling on them to “prayerfully consider if their space could also be used in this way,” she told The Olympian.
“I want to be able to show them this is how we’re doing it,” she said.
‘Side-by-side in the fight’
Thurston County and city governments are also taking action. Thurston County Public Health and Social Services’ office of Housing and Homelessness Prevention received a $1 million grant from the state Department of Commerce meant to help the county respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, “specifically to help public health meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness,” a county press release reads.
The city of Olympia identified about 10 people who were at-risk and living at the city-run mitigation site downtown and put them up in a hotel. The city’s converting a vacant building on Martin Way into a shelter officials say will house up to 35 people, and Thurston County plans to contract with local nonprofit Interfaith Works to run the temporary shelter. Efforts are underway to increase access to hygiene services in encampments and shelters.
But Stahley and Marineau agreed: Faith-based communities are crucial to the community’s response to homelessness, generally, and especially during this pandemic.
This is far from the first time a church or faith-based organization has stepped up to help the area’s unsheltered population.
There’s the Olympia Union Gospel Mission and First Christian Church in downtown Olympia — First Christian hosts both Interfaith Works’ shelter and the New Hope Community of people recently cleared from under the Fourth Avenue bridge. Westminster Presbyterian Church on Boulevard Road Southeast hosts eight tiny homes that serve as transitional housing. Evergreen Christian Church pledged up to $300,000 so the city could hire a homeless response coordinator.
Terrence “Mitch” Mitchell, Outreach Coordinator for the city of Lacey, likened it to the role of chaplains in his 25 years of military service. Mitchell said Lacey is supporting Sacred Heart’s efforts and trying to find a property like the Martin Way building in Olympia.
“Our chaplains in the military have always been there, standing side-by-side in the fight,” Mitchell told The Olympian in a phone interview. “I can say that churches and the faith-based community here in Thurston County are right side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder in this fight.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 8:28 AM.