Tuesday, January 19, 2021
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Vol. 48 No. 41
Goshen (574) 534-2591
134 S. Main, Goshen, Indiana 46526
New warming shelter available for homeless men in Goshen
3529,',1* 6+(/7(5 “ Mindy Morehead, director of Goshen Interfaith Hospitality Network, sits at the intake portion of the new warming shelter in Goshen available for homeless single men. The shelter is low barrier and behavior based, meaning men must simply follow the rules in order to qualify for shelter each night. Photo by Nicholette Carlson.
%\ 1,&+2/(77( &$5/621 6WDII :ULWHU Midwest winters are known to be cold, which can be dangerous for the homeless as the temperatures decrease. Goshen Interfaith Hospitality Network has been working to meet this need for 25 years. A program shelter for women with children and single women exists at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Goshen. The church became the fixed site for this shelter in November 2017. Prior to that, homeless families would rotate through churches in the area. Seeing a need for shelter for homeless men in the community, GIHN began to utilize that model for single, homeless men. However, that was able to change
$ 3/$&( 72 6/((3 “ Recognizing a need for a men÷s shelter in the Goshen community, New Life Church agreed to allow the Goshen Interfaith Hospitality Network to use its vacant building. The shelter is open for intake from 7-10 p.m. each night, seven days a week. Once inside, individuals can stay until 7 a.m. Photo by Nicholette Carlson.
once New Life Church offered its vacant building on Eisenhower Drive near the Industrial Park as a warming shelter for single, homeless men beginning Dec. 14. The warming shelter will be available every night for homeless men through the end of March. With minimal staff and unable to utilize volunteers, Mindy Morehead, GIHN director, is grateful for how much easier it is in a single location. Given the necessary COVID safety measures, each man being assigned one cot greatly helps to decrease the amount of sanitizing and cleaning required each day. She learned about the vacant building from members of the city’s planning committee and, after reaching out to him, the pastor agreed. The men’s shelter is low barrier, which means they do not perform background checks or warrant
checks. Check-in for the shelter begins each night at 7 p.m. and lasts until 10 p.m. After 10 p.m. men must be accompanied by a police officer to enter. Once the intake has been completed, each man is assigned a number to correspond with their cot and storage tote. All personal belongings are placed into the individual tote and cannot be accessed during their stay at the shelter. All bedding is supplied, as well as a bottle of water. “If they can come in and behave themselves, they can utilize the shelter,” Morehead explained. “It gives them 12 hours off the streets to keep warm.” Once they sign in, they are able to stay at the shelter until 7 a.m. A security guard stays with them all night and provides wake up calls when requested. Otherwise, wake up call is at 6:30 a.m. However, if Continued on page 3