Volunteers Needed For Men’s Homeless Shelter To Remain Open
It’s cold. It is Christmas. And the local men’s homeless shelter needs volunteers to remain open.
“The primary need is for overnight volunteers for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday prior to Christmas and for the days between Christmas and the new year,” said Dr. Ron Cava, senior minister at The First Baptist Church of Henderson, NC. Cava serves as the chairman of the board of directors for Community Partners of Hope, which runs the shelter.
To volunteer email cpofhope@gmail.com or contact Jane King (Volunteer Coordinator) at 252-432-9494. Volunteers need to be male.
There is a calendar on the Community Partners of Hope website, and you can see what times are needed.
The average attendance this season has been about six men per night. Some are moving through the area and others are being helped by the shelter to get on their feet. “The overnight shift is just really — I don’t mean to minimize it because it is very important, but we need warm, male bodies who will come and be there and in the case of some sort of emergency could pick up a phone and call for help,” Cava said.
At this time it also sounds like from what Dr. Cava is saying that the fallback options to staff the overnight times have been unusually over extended, meaning a shelter closure is possible on nights when no overnight volunteers are able to be scheduled.
Numerous area churches take various weeks of time to staff the shelter with volunteers, but it takes community-wide participation from individual volunteers as well to fill all the time.
Most nights at the shelter, a few men needing a place to sleep come in at 9:00 p.m. after having already received food and the option of a hot shower by the shelter’s intake crew. It’s lights out at 10:00 p.m. “Overnight volunteers stay until 6:30 the next morning, and the men know the routine to get things cleaned up in the morning and then have to be off the premises at that time,” said Cava.
Two of the shelter managers, who received much praise from Cava, are former occupants of the shelter. Darryl Jones and Kenny Blackwell are both former homeless people. Cava said, “They have both been there. They know where these men are and how they’re feeling. They’ve both succeeded at full recovery. Darryl came through our shelter two years ago, spent a year in our transitional home and is out on his own doing really, really well and is giving back.”
Cava said, “For some reason, we’ve had a lot of our volunteers from previous years to age out, have had physical problems, and our volunteer ranks have been thinned in the last year pretty dramatically, and we have not been very successful in replenishing them even though we are constantly reaching out to — our core base is our churches.”
One of the things the shelter would like to do soon is increase its funding. For example, it may be impossible for an individual or a church or other group to physically volunteer at the shelter, but it may be possible, according to Cava, for this same individual or group to help fund the shelter, which would then hire the required overnight personnel.
“It would be immoral in my opinion to know we are about to have frozen precipitation, to know it’s going to be 30 degrees and a man has no other place to go, and we’re going to have to say sorry, we can’t open the shelter because we don’t have volunteers,” Cava said.
To be a volunteer “you have to be able to smile, say good evening, you have to be able to sit in a recliner and watch them sleep,” Cava said. If there are two volunteers, each can take turns and get a little rest as well. “It’s not baby sitting. These are grown men, who for a variety of reasons find themselves in the circumstances they are in and need some help,” he said. The rules are posted and gone over at check in by the intake staff.
Cava is passionate about this ministry. “We know the story of Mary and Joseph and our Lord being born in a cave instead of in a warm environment, and I just can’t bring myself to think about these men not having somewhere safe and warm to sleep just before we celebrate the birth of our Savior.”
Operation Silent Night Additional Coverage
Immediately after today’s press conference for Operation Silent Night, WIZS News conducted live radio interviews with District Attorney Mike Waters of the 9th Prosectutorial District, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Schurmeier and Lieutenant Allen Hedgepeth of the Henderson Police Department.
To see more about Operation Silent Night please view our other WIZS News post which includes the news release and photos or click here.
Kerr Vance Academy Holiday Basketball Tournament Complete Schedule
KVA HOLIDAY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, December 16 (teams in bold will be the HOME team on Friday)
Small Gym – JV
Game JV1 5:30 Lighthouse JV Boys vs. John Paul II HS JV Boys
Game JV2 7:00 Kerr-Vance JV Boys vs. Franklin Academy JV Boys
Main Gym – Varsity
Game V1 4:00 Lighthouse Girls vs. John Paul II HS Girls
Game V2 5:30 Kerr-Vance Academy vs. Franklin Academy Girls
Game V3 7:00 Lighthouse Boys vs. John Paul II HS Boys
Game V4 8:30 Kerr-Vance Academy Boys vs. Franklin Academy Boys
Saturday, December 17
Small Gym – JV
Game JV3 1:00 JV Boys Consolation Game
Game JV4 2:30 Winner from Game JV1 vs. Winner from Game JV2
AWARDS CEREMONY
Main Gym – Varsity
Game V5 12:00 Varsity Girls Consolation Game
Game V6 1:30 Varsity Boys Consolation Game
Game V7 3:00 Winner of Game V1 vs. Winner of Game V2 Girls
AWARDS CEREMONY
Game V8 5:00 Winner of Game V3 vs. Winner of Game V4 Boys
AWARDS CEREMONY
Operation Silent Night results in 88 arrests in the four county area
Operation Silent Night results in 88 arrests in the four county area
Nearly 230 law enforcement officers from state, local, and federal agencies joined forces this week for Operation Silent Night, an enforcement operation that served outstanding criminal warrants and conducted compliance checks on high risk and violent offenders on probation and parole in Vance, Granville, Warren, and Franklin counties.
Significant arrests and accomplishments included:
- Confiscation of 10 firearms including assault rifles and significant quantities of ammunition
- Confiscation of significant quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and cash
- Location and cleanup of a home methamphetamine lab in Franklin County
- Absconder from post-release supervision safely brought into custody after a three-hour standoff in Franklin County
- Recovery of a stolen vehicle in Vance County
- Eight parole warrants issued and served for parole or post-release supervision violations
- 118 searches of probationers attempted, 71 completed
- 174 warrants served, 212 charges cleared, 32 probation violations issued
Participating agencies included:
U.S. Marshals Service
North Carolina Department of Public Safety
Vance County Sheriff’s Office
Warren County Sheriff’s Office
Granville County Sheriff’s Office
Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
Henderson Police Department
Butner Public Safety
Oxford Police Department
Henderson-Vance Emergency Operations
NC Information Sharing and Analysis Center (NC ISAAC)
State Bureau of Investigation
U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern District NC
Office of the District Attorney for District 9
North Carolina State Highway Patrol
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
“The U.S. Marshals Service along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners will continually work to ensure that violent and repeat offenders on probation and parole supervision are compliant and held accountable for their actions,” said Scott J. Parker, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of North Carolina. “This initiative demonstrated the partnership and dedication of the men and women from the U.S. Marshals Service and our law enforcement partners throughout Eastern North Carolina. I want to thank all of the law enforcement officers from the participating agencies for their relentless pursuit of justice here in North Carolina.”
“Cooperation between state, local and federal law enforcement agencies is critical to maintaining safe communities everywhere. No agency can accomplish this alone,” said Frank L. Perry, Secretary of the NC Department of Public Safety. “We appreciate the quality work that these agencies do on a daily basis and we thank them for their collaboration on this operation.”
“The District Attorney’s office is proud to have participated in Operation Silent Night,” said Michael Waters, district attorney for Franklin, Granville, Warren, and Vance counties. “We expect the relationships forged during this effort will pay future dividends in detecting and prosecuting serious felons and probation violators.”
“The City of Henderson and its residents should be extremely pleased with the efforts put forth in this major operation,” said Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow. “Our hopes are that the work done in planning and executing Operation Silent Night will benefit our community in the months to come. This is believed to be the largest regional operation for the Henderson Police Department and we are extremely grateful to the U.S. Marshals Service, The NC Department of Public Safety and our partners for their professionalism and effort.”
“Every day the men and women of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office take proactive steps throughout the county to ensure the safety of the citizens,” said Franklin County Sheriff Kent Winstead. “This operation with local, state and federal agencies is another example of our commitment to continue our efforts in making this county a safe place to live and raise a family.”
“The SBI enjoys long-standing partnerships with local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies and will continue to engage in multi-agency operations like these to make North Carolina a safer place to live,” said NC State Bureau of Investigation Robert Schurmeier. “The SBI was able to contribute to overall efforts with several specialty units including the state’s fusion center (ISAAC), Special Response Team, Clandestine Lab Unit, area field agents, bomb squad and Computer Crimes Unit.”
www.usmarshals.gov
(Press Release Information Above, including two WIZS Photos and one WIZS Cover Photo. The entire press conference was broadcast live on WIZS 1450 AM and streamed live on WIZS.com from about 10:00 a.m. until about 10:35 a.m., which included live interviews with District Attorney Mike Waters, NC SBI Director Robert Schurmeier and Lieutenant Allen Hedgepeth of the Henderson Police Department. The press conference occurred at Clearview Church on Oxford Road in Henderson.)
Henderson-Vance Chamber accepting nominations for Citizen of the Year
Do you know an outstanding local citizen?
The Citizen of the Year award is presented each year by the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce to
recognize an individual for their volunteer work to make our community a better place to live.
The criteria used in making the selection includes:
- The person must be a resident of the Henderson-Vance County community.
- The acts and good deeds for which the award is presented must have been performed for the benefit of Vance County and its citizens.
- The community at large should recognize, once the award is made, that it is deserved.
- The activities resulting in the award should be regarded outside the recipient’s normal business or profession.
The recipient does not have to be a member of the Chamber.
Deadline is Friday, December 30th!
The Citizen of the Year nomination form is below (copy and paste).
Email nominations forms to John Barnes at john@hendersonvance.org
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Nomination form for Citizen of the Year
The Citizen of the Year award is presented each year by the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce to recognize an individual for their volunteer work to make our community a better place to live.
The criteria used in making the selection includes:
- The person must be a resident of the Henderson-Vance County
- The acts and good deeds for which the award is presented must have been performed for the benefit of Vance County and its citizens.
- The community at large should recognize, once the award is made, that it is deserved.
- The activities resulting in the award should be regarded outside the recipient’s normal business or profession.
- The recipient does not have to be a member of the Chamber.
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To nominate an individual for this award, fill out the information below and attach a letter describing the things you think make this individual eligible for this award. If possible, please attach other letters of support for this individual.
Name: _______________________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________
Place of Employment: __________________________________________
Your contact information:
Name: ________________________________________________________
Email Address: _________________________________________________
Phone Number: _________________________________________________
Submit nomination form and letter(s) to the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce by Friday, December 30, 2016