Delthine Watson’s got the math memorized: 365 times 365 equals 133,225. But when you apply that simple calculation to the plan for the Community Partners of Hope men’s emergency shelter, the result can have life-altering consequences.
Watson, community network specialist for Community Partners of Hope, has complete faith that the community will help bring to fruition the dream to have the shelter open all year long. That plan is inching toward reality now – the shelter is opening a full month early this year, beginning Oct. 1. It previously had been open November through March.
“This year, with the support of the community, and listening to the community, we are opening up Oct. 1,” she told WIZS’s Bill Harris on Tuesday’s Town Talk. “We’re excited about that. But she is equally excited about the 365 Dream Team Campaign that calls for 365 entities -individuals, groups, clubs – to give $365 toward the goal of having the shelter and the services it offers open all year long.
Theirs is the only men’s shelter in the area, and Watson said they have clients who come from nearby counties, including Mecklenburg County, VA, for a warm, dry place to sleep. But the services end early in the morning and, as Watson points out, “during the daytime, they’re still homeless.”
The shelter is a place where men can get a hot meal, charge their phones, have a hot shower and a clean change of clothes, she said.
But once the shelter has its own space and can stay open all year, there could be opportunities for additional services and training to further help clients improve their life situations.
“Just imagine,” Watson said, “we could be able to operate all year, we could get a building…our dreams would come true.”
The $365 – she certainly welcomes more and understands if donors need to give less – would “help us do the things that we need to do – that we want to do.”
Bringing men from homelessness to some type of self-sufficiency is the goal, but Watson acknowledged that each client may have different needs.
Shelter Manager Darryl Jones helps clients a great deal, Watson said, and encourages the ones as they make life choices that take them from homelessness toward self-sufficiency.
Hearing updates from clients who have gotten their lives back on track definitely make for “feel-good moments,” Watson said. “But we don’t have enough of those.” Through additional programming, some life-skills programming and other services, she said the shelter could give the men what they need and what they are looking for.
Visit www.cp-hope.org or call 919.339.1426 to learn more about the 365 Dream Team Campaign.
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