Winter shelter faces shortage of volunteers

It’s another night shift for Interfaith Emergency Winter Shelter volunteer Pat Martin.
On Tuesday at 10 p.m., Martin sat at the check-in table at First United Church. Martin normally would have left by 9 p.m., but the shelter was understaffed, so she stayed to help out.

“Normally, I volunteer to set up,” Martin said. “But all of our volunteers didn’t come for the first shift.”

Martin is one of 400 volunteers who help run the Interfaith Emergency Winter Shelter.
From 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. seven nights per week from November to March, the Interfaith Emergency Winter Shelter provides Monroe County’s homeless population with an alternative to sleeping on the cold streets.

The shelter currently rotates nights between four Bloomington churches and receives volunteers and support from several other local faith organizations.

During the winter of 2008-09, Trinity Episcopal Church ran the shelter by itself. Several Bloomington faith leaders met during summer 2009 and coordinated a more widespread shelter effort.

The shelter now rotates between First United Church, First United Methodist Church, Trinity Episcopal Church and First Christian Church.

Rev. Helen Enari of First Christian Church said her church is prepared to be used as a shelter site by purchasing cots, cleaning supplies and snacks for the guests. This winter, First Christian Church will have the shelter two nights per week.

“We don’t have enough volunteers to do two nights, but we have space,” Enari said.

In order to help out, members of St. Paul’s Catholic Newman Center volunteer during the second night. St. Paul is one of the 31 local organizations that provide support to the shelter.

The shelter received a grant from the City of Bloomington that allowed it to purchase two washers and dryers to help with the daily laundry. Shalom Community Center employs two of the shelter’s residents to do the laundry.

“They have a job at a living wage to do laundry, which takes almost an entire day,” said Blair Johnson, IU law student and a member of the Governing Board for the shelter.

Johnson also volunteers at the shelter.

“A good portion of volunteers are retired or elderly,” Johnson said. “Most of our students have taken the late shift.”

The late shifts run from 11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. and from 2:45 a.m. to 6 a.m. Johnson volunteers for these shifts to get some quiet, late-night study time.

“I’m a law student,” Johnson said. “I take my books along every night and basically have three and a half hours of study time.”