‘Crisis’ in Emergency Winter Shelters: Faith Leaders Plea for Help
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Leaders from Rhode Island’s religious communities will hold a press conference tomorrow to issue an urgent plea to the public, lawmakers, and their own congregations to help expand the state’s network of emergency winter shelters.
“We’re doing this event just to try to draw attention to the shortfall in ‘emergency’ emergency shelters,” said Rev. Dr. Don Anderson, head of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches. “Especially at this time of year could we find a way to reach a little deeper and help these emergency shelters?”
Leaders of other Christian congregations as well as Jewish and Islamic communities will also be speaking. “Even though our traditions hold beliefs in different areas, there are a lot of areas where we have things in common and this is one of them,” Anderson said.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTA recent count found that 174 homeless people were sleeping outside, according to the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. That number—combined with overcrowding at existing shelters—points to a 282-bed shortfall in the state’s network of emergency shelters, according to Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Coalition.
There are currently four main emergency shelters open at night during the winter—one each in Westerly, Woonsocket, Providence, and Pawtucket. A fifth is scheduled to open at the former Carter Day Center in Providence, which is owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese, according to Ryczek.
He said the Coalition needs about $40,000 to staff the shelter overnight for three months, starting next January. Another $13,000 is needed to ensure a family emergency shelter at Providence Community Action remains open, he added.
Ryczek hopes the event also reminds lawmakers and the public that Rhode Island needs to find a long-term solution to homelessness, such as affordable housing. “I’d rather not spend our energy and resources on opening up emergency shelters,” Ryczek said. “We’d rather put our energies into more permanent solutions.”
The press conference is 10:15 a.m. tomorrow at the RI State Council of Churches offices, at 100 Niantic Avenue in Providence.
Related Articles
- Hope in the City: High Fashion for Homelessness
- RI Senator Behind Plan to End Homelessness in the U.S.
