Schuylkill County’s Local Housing Options Team has started its annual count of the homeless.
LHOT members, who represent various service agencies and nonprofits, have 10 different sites throughout the county this week to offer free meals, clothing and other assistance while interviewing individuals for the fourth annual point-in-time count.
The different locations this week were used from Wednesday to Friday to interview the sheltered and unsheltered people for the count. The goal is to find out where the homeless spent Wednesday night.
On Thursday, LHOT members were at the Pottsville Soup Kitchen to interview some of the people coming for the free meal made by the parishioners at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Auburn.
Although only four people there qualified for the unsheltered count, others were connected with service agencies that could offer assistance to their individual situations.
Marybeth Dohman, director of planning for Schuylkill Community Action, said there are many different reasons people are homeless and it could happen to anyone.
“It could be you,” Dohman said.
Albert Nastasi, program director for Servants to All, said the people that the nonprofit organization has temporarily housed in local hotels also do not qualify for the unsheltered count.
“We have eight people housed in hotels that would have been here tonight if not for the generosity of our donors,” Nastasi said.
There were also sites Thursday in Minersville, Mahanoy City, Shenandoah and Saint Clair. There was one in Orwigsburg on Wednesday. There will be sites Friday in Frackville, Girardville, Pottsville and Tamaqua. In addition to a free meal, volunteers at the sites also offer grocery gift cards, canned food, donated clothing, hotel vouchers and other items. There are also two teams searching the streets for homeless this week.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development uses the annual count to estimate the number of people homeless in the country and identify any similar characteristics among the demographic. HUD provides various funding for homeless assistance services to counties who participate in the counts. The date for the count is set each year by the federal government.
Over the last two years, an average of 35 homeless individuals were counted in Schuylkill County.
Schuylkill County does not have a homeless shelter for the general public. However, Schuylkill Women in Crisis operates a shelter for victims of domestic and sexual violence. SWIC and various agencies in the county also have transitional housing programs that provide temporary residency while helping an individual secure permanent housing.
Point-In-Time Count locations today:
Frackville
God’s Chuckwagon
4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29
Frackville Borough Building
Girardville
God’s Chuckwagon
6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29
Girardville Borough Building
Pottsville
Noon meal Friday, Jan. 29
Pottsville Salvation Army, 400 Sanderson St.
Tamaqua
Meal from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29
Tamaqua Salvation Army, 105 W. Broad St.