Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Owensboro is temporarily sheltering homeless people at two hotels in Owensboro in an effort to prevent them from being exposed to the virus and the environment since they have no place to go during the day.
“It’s really hard to shelter in place when you’re homeless,” said Susan Montalvo-Gesser, director of Catholic Charities in Owensboro. “That’s one of the reasons why we started having this contingency plan, so we can allow the people who are most vulnerable to shelter in place.”
The plan, which had been in the works for about a month, came to fruition last week thanks to several grants — including one for $11,000 from Catholic Charity USA, The Green River Area COVID-19 Response Fund and private donations.
Most of the dozen or so people sheltering at the Wingfield Inn & Suites and Motel 6 are from CrossRoads Emergency Women’s Shelter. Some are from the Crisis Stabilization Unit and those who don’t qualify to stay at St. Benedict’s Homeless Shelter or Daniel Pitino Shelter.
Michele Ison, executive director at Crossroads, said they moved the shelter-in-place model since it was challenging to maintain social distancing and there was nowhere for guests to go during the day.
Most non-essential establishments that the homeless visit during the day are closed because of COVID-19 and some of the guests at the day shelters are sick. That gave rise to a need for alternative day shelters.
“We created a temporary day shelter in our community garden beside our building,” Ison said. “Then the temporary day shelter blew down in high winds. That seemed the right time to move ahead with our plan to shelter in place at the hotel.”
Montalvo-Gesser said there are enough shelter funds for about six weeks at a reduced rate and the setup “kills two birds with one stone” since the hotels get business and shelters’ guests have a place to stay.
“We’re trying to use our resources wisely. We’ve gone through about $28,000 in the past few weeks of just providing assistance with not just hotels, but rent and groceries and utility payments,” she said.
Montalvo-Gesser said people who’ve received their $1,200 stimulus check and who are in good economic standing can donate $300 to qualified organizations and receive a tax deduction. This donation is an above-the-line deduction through the CARES Act.
“It’s been very rewarding,” she said. “I never ever thought that I’d be running disaster relief from my house. Just like everybody else, we’ve learned to adapt to the new normal.”
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