- As snow and freezing weather hit, Hillsdale neighbors with no place to call home are finding shelter in our neighborhood.
- Some say they had been living in tents outdoors, but the City has been clearing their encampments.
- Share the Warmth is a warming shelter operating out of Sozo Church in Downtown Hillsdale, and provides night-time shelter, breakfast, and dinner, and has beds available.
- Hope Harbor is sheltering more than a dozen unhoused neighbors who were previously living in a yurt behind Hillsdale Community Thrift, and is applying to become legally-permitted transitional housing.
"We used hand sanitizer to keep us warm. Burn it in a pan and it kept the tent warm." — Teresa Penza about the time she spent living in a tent as one of Hillsdale's homeless
With the first snow on the ground and temperatures below freezing, I'm asking unhoused Hillsdale neighbors how they're coping with the cold…and what shelter is available.
SEE WHERE THEY'RE GOING:
"I don't have a home. I miss having a home," says Penza.
She says an aneurysm left her with intermittent strokes and seizures, making it hard to find work. A family dispute left her homeless and living in a tent here in Hillsdale.
What was it like to make that decision to go live in a tent? I can't imagine…I ask her.
"It was so hard to walk away from everything you had just to be homeless — it's really hard," she says.
But Penza has been staying warm and getting help with applying for disability benefits since Share the Warmth — Hillsdale's seasonal warming shelter — opened its doors.
"So relaxing and calm, and I love it," says Penza. "I can sleep, because I have electricity, running water, bathroom, shower, wash clothes, and I can eat and sleep. Sleep is the main thing."
Penny Myers, who runs Share the Warmth, says beds are available. The shelter, which operates out of Sozo Church, is raising funds through Hillsdale Community Foundation for a permanent facility.
Across town, at what was called Camp Hope, more than a dozen people are sheltering in a building next to Hillsdale Community Thrift. The City recently demolished the yurt that was their shelter.
Dillon LaGore is one of them. He says he spends the day helping out at the thrift store and applying for jobs: "I just stay around here now. Trying to move forward, trying to get out of here."
Melissa DesJardin, Executive Director of Hope Harbor, hopes to have permits from the City soon to make her building legally compliant transitional housing.
For now, she says, Hope Harbor could use help with bills and fines — including $5000 from the City for demolition of the yurt last month.
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