But there is a smaller set of Hoosiers that cannot afford the luxury of a bed, pillow and cozy blanket. These Hoosiers have no home.
According to the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, as of January 2015 there were 5,863 homeless individuals living across Indiana. There are 329 residing in Monroe County.
Earlier this month, the Interfaith Winter Shelter launched their second crowd-funding campaign. The 45-day campaign aims to raise $35,000 for the upcoming 152-night winter season.
The IWS provides beds, pillows, blankets and refreshments to the homeless community from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night Nov. 1 through March 31.
The IWS started in 2009 when clergy and religious leaders from different faith communities came together to provide a shelter for the homeless community during the winter season. During the past six years, the IWS has evolved into a five-month program that provides shelter, refreshments, transportation and access to a professional social worker for the homeless.
“It’s gotten a little more refined each year with more support,” said Daniel Watts, president of the IWS Board.
As the IWS continues to refine its program, its primary role is to provide shelter for the homeless.
“As we all know, in Indiana it can get severely cold during the winter months,” Garrett Poortinga, the campaign coordinator, said. “The shelter keeps people alive who don’t have homes, friends or family to stay with.
We witnessed a major outpouring of support last year, and we’re hoping to receive some of that support this year.”
Watts said the successful crowd-funding campaign last year encouraged the IWS board members to re-launch the campaign this year.
The crowd-funding campaign last year raised more than $20,000. The funds were allocated toward laundry services, bus tickets, shelter supplies and other expenses. But a critical service it afforded the IWS was the ability to hire a social worker from the Shalom Community Center.
“The key thing was a very intense partnership with Shalom, who actually provides the caseworker,” Watts said. “The goal of this kind of partnership is to facilitate addressing issues and concerns that individual guests may have and to help them solve problems or move them into a more stable housing situation.”
Last year, social worker Deanne Witzke found housing for 53 homeless people that frequented the IWS, 23 of whom were permanently housed.
“That’s a pretty significant number,” she said. “I don’t think that would have been possible without the Interfaith-Shalom collaboration.”
The IWS crowd-funding campaign originated as a class capstone project for Poortinga during his final year in his master’s program at IU. But it was Poortinga’s personal struggles that inspired him to aid the homeless community.
Poortinga moved to San Francisco for four years after graduating from IU in 2008 with his undergraduate degree.
In San Francisco, he suffered through unemployment and homelessness.
“I was in between jobs, and I was personally homeless,” Poortinga said. “I was relying on friends and couch-surfing, searching for places to stay for weeks on end.”
For the second crowd-funding campaign the IWS aims to hire an on-site coordinator throughout the entire night, Watts said. They also want to train their volunteers in conflict resolution and conflict de-escalation.
“We are always welcoming to new volunteers,” Watts said.
The volunteers are pivotal in keeping the shelter operational, he said.
Madison Kesler, volunteer at the IWS, said getting the opportunity to volunteer is equally rewarding.
“My experience has been fantastic. I truly enjoy going to the shelter,” she said. “Knowing that the shelter that I volunteer at is saving lives is so rewarding.”
Despite the IWS continuing to enhance its services, its primary goal remains the same.
“The major objective is to save lives in the winter,” Watts said. “We don’t want people freezing to death.”
