An emergency overnight winter shelter opened in Kalamazoo two weeks ago, and staff say it’s been at capacity nearly every night since then.
Ministry with Community at 500 N. Edwards St. normally serves as a day shelter, open from early morning to late afternoon. Teaming up with Housing Resources Inc., it began to offer overnight shelter services Dec. 1.
Sid Ellis is the director of Ministry with Community. He said the residents, or “members”, have played a large role in making the night shelter work.
“People want to be in a place where they’re safe and secure,” he said. “They take ownership in it and pride in it, so they’re working together to make sure this is a safe place to come to."
Ministry with Community’s volunteer coordinator Jonathan Salisbury said he’s seen an increase in volunteering at the shelter. Employees and volunteers, some of whom are the residents themselves, transform the space in the late afternoon, setting up sleeping mats for up to 111 people to come in from the cold.
“One of the biggest pieces of feedback we got after day one was, 'can we get the mats earlier, we’d like to go to sleep,' which we weren’t expecting,” said Salisbury. “We had heard that not all members will sleep throughout the night, and it can be a little loud at night, but they all just wanted to sleep. They had had a long day.”
The Gospel Mission in Kalamazoo downsized its own emergency shelter services in October. That left a large number of unhoused people potentially without shelter in dangerous conditions. The city and county as well as the United Way of South Central Michigan provided $700,000 for the emergency shelter.
Basilia Vega works at Ministry with Community and said she’s glad the non-profit was given the opportunity to fill the gap.
“The fact that we can kind of pick that up for them and have members actually tell us they prefer it here kind of makes you feel better too because you’re doing your job,” she said. “They actually have somewhere safe to go.”
Ministry with Community said it could still use more volunteers. Those in need of shelter can contact the local organization Housing Resources Inc. for more information by calling (269) 382-0287 and pressing 1 for the winter shelter.
This story is part of a collaboration with NowKalamazoo exploring Kalamazoo County's housing crisis.
