BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — Greater Falls Warming Shelter will begin its tenth season of operation Thursday, Nov. 15 when the 10-bed shelter opens again at 23 Church Street in North Walpole.
“We are already aware of a number of people who will be looking to us for shelter as the days get colder,” said GFWS chair Louise Luring. “If weather predictions are correct, it will be a long, hard, snowy winter that will drive more people to our doors.”
The shelter provides a warm, safe overnight shelter during the winter months for those in need, with a staff of volunteers and two paid part-time coordinators. Volunteers serve in two-person shifts from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. and 1 to 7 a.m. Other volunteers bring in supper each night.
Since it opened in 2009, the shelter has harbored 322 individuals for 7,181 bednights, mostly folks with ties to the local community who have insecure housing because of medical issues, job loss, family problems, domestic violence, addiction, poverty or any number of other circumstances.
“We work on referring our guests to social service agencies that can help them find housing as soon as possible, including Our Place Drop-in Center, SEVCA, Pathways and veterans programs, as well as help them with other issues,” Luring said. “Although housing is very tight all over Vermont, a number of our guests have found places to live through connections with our partners.”
Luring said the great need is for volunteers for the two shifts. A training will be held Sunday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. at Parks Place, and anyone interested should contact shelter coordinator Deborah Clark at (603) 723-4843 or e-mail the shelter at [email protected].
There is also a need for volunteers to help set up the shelter beginning Thursday, Nov. 1 and to staff Our Place on Sundays from 9 a.m. to about 3 or 4 p.m. when shelter guests have nowhere else to go.
The shelter is funded in part by a Housing Opportunity Program grant from the Office of Economic Opportunity, a grant from the Bishop deGoesbriand Appeal for Human Advancement, and donations from individuals and organizations and corporations such as the Bellows Falls Rotary Club, the Bellows Falls Women’s Club, Chroma Technology, Sonnax, Cota & Cota, Silver Forest of Vermont, the Savings Bank of Walpole and the Greater Falls Pharmacy.
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