We walked in the door a bit late due to travel and weather challenges and the activities were already under way. But even before we stepped inside we’d been greeted by staff and had a sense of the good will and positive energy. We came in the back door to the basement common room which was packed to the gills with children and mothers. It was high energy and the room was full of creativity and joy. It reminded me of how much can be done with very little. It was a tiny basement space but it was just fine. The walls were decorated with murals the kids had made to welcome us. One of the mothers, named Tiffany, told me that she and her children just really needed this today. It had been a tough one for them. As in all the shelters we were thanked generously for coming. In this shelter the thanks started the moment we walked in. Sometime it takes a little longer for people to relax in to the no rules pandemonium of Gingerbread house fun and then realize how refreshing and helpful it is at a very simple level.
This is a new shelter which opened in February and it is the largest we have visited. It houses 28 families apartments. I had the opportunity to walk one of the families up to their third floor apartment to help deliver their houses and was amazed at how great a space the shelter managed to provide for this family. The staff is very focused on helping parents reach economic self sufficiency. Not all the shelters take in men and teenage boys. This is one which enables families to stay together.
I also very much enjoyed my hot shower and was so grateful for! I can only speculate what that same shower felt like to each person who arrived here from a day on which there was great uncertainty not only about what would be home, but what would be home tonight.
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