Weather drives men to shelters
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“We’re packed right now,” said Rene Rohleder, program director for the Richmond County Mental Health Society. “If we had the room, than we’d put them in.”
The Rockingham Homeless Shelter, recently renamed the Baker House, provides 30 beds for homeless men to sleep in if there is no other viable option.
Nightly the shelter has filled to capacity and beyond since it opened for the season last month, according to Rohleder.
“We’ve had as many as 32,” Rohleder said, who explained that at times they’ll double up on quilts to let some sleep on the tile floors to escape the cold and damp weather.
The men’s shelter provides warmth for the homeless men in the community, but the true crisis lies in the women and children who are relegated to sleeping outside, in abandoned buildings, begging churches for assistance -anywhere they can find it, which Rohleder says is, “appalling.”
“I’ve seen some in lean-tos and in tents,” Rohleder said. “Wherever they can pitch a tent.”
The Mental Health Society has been actively seeking support for a women and children’s shelter for the county, especially since it’s becoming an increasingly prevalent issue.
“The community doesn’t always realize just how many women and children are in crisis,” Rohleder said. “There is no recourse but to either depend on family, friends or even churches.”
Rohleder says the need has been identified and that there is a huge necessity for a shelter for women and children in Richmond County.
Yet, the funding is where the potential for the program is caught.
Currently, the men’s shelter sits directly beside another building, also owned by the Mental Health Society, similar to men’s shelter’s layout that could house just as many, if not more, women and children.
“We’re still in a talking stage but we have to drum up community interest first,” Rohleder said.
The shelter can’t be brought up to code and renovated until the funds are raised, which according to Rohleder, are 90 percent funded by charitable donations from the community itself. Only about 10 percent is acquired through grants.
The nearest homeless shelter for women and children is over an hour away in Sanford.
According to Rohleder, she can provide arrangements once they get there, but the program in Richmond County cannot afford to transport everyone to Sanford.
Once the funds are collected, it would only take the organization two to three months to have the shelter up to specifications, Rohleder said.
Winter temperatures compound the need for a warm place to sleep and according to Rohleder, “I’ll push them in if I have to.”
n Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.
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Tell you what - you pay rent and utilities on $750 a month, then see how much you have left over for food, clothes, and personal necessities. Wait, you own a rooming house? Guess you don't have to worry about being homeless, huh?
Here's a thought... Since you actually OWN a home that can support more than one family, why don't you open a few rooms to the women & children that can't stay at Baker House? Let me guess, you're not equipped, right? Or, you just can't afford to let a few rooms go for free?
BTW, the cheapest monthly hotel rent was $560/month - 6 years ago.
Mr. Hall, no one wants to make addiction easier for addicts; that's not the point of a homeless ministry.
However, you seem to be the type of person to tell someone, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps," knowing full well they don't even have boots. Everyone has to start somewhere, & unfortunately, some people have to start over - sometimes, more than once.
Also, God welcomes all - even & especially "winos & dopeheads." Maybe you weren't one when you met Him, but that's your loss. One of the most beautiful things to witness is the salvation of someone who has lost everything & has to become totally dependent on God's provisions.
With all respects for your caring for the ones who are not caring for themselves, in your story you fail to mention that most of the men in your care receive a monthly check which averages about 750.00. There are several houses renting out rooms for as little as 400.00 each month, however those men would not have any money to buy their booze, and drugs with should they pay for rent. I have knowledge of this first hand as I own one of these houses. Many of those who live there either work or receive SSI, and they get thier meals at your place for free. Even those who work at cascades and perdue, and make up to 14.00 per hour , eat at your shelter and then have money left to drink on and to buy their drugs. If you have 30 men living in the shelter,and you leave the homeless women and children on the streets,in tents and alley ways then your priorities are in thw wrong place. Do you screen the gentlemen who sleep at the mission to see if they receive an SSI check? they could pay any one of the motels for lodging if they chose shelter over booze. I am all for helping those who truly have no other options, but I refuse to support a group of druggies and winos. who could get their own place , but they chose to retreat from any responsibility of taking care of self and expect ,others to support their life style choices. Kick the men out and put the ladies and the children ,the true innocent victims in the beds at the shelter. God said render me the children, not the winos and dopeheads. God bless you
Judgement House was a wonderful blessing. But I can PROMISE that the homeless are more concerned about where their shelter & next meal is coming from, than how well their relationship with Christ is growing.
What's say Richmond County churches come together in a joint venture (imagine that) to provide suitable accomodations for the homeless in our county.