Carson City's nightly warming shelter for homeless to open Sunday with COVID-19 standards in place
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Sat, 11/14/2020 - 11:05am
A network of churches, community members and local non-profits have been teaming up for half a decade in Carson City to provide warming shelters and a safe place to sleep for the transient population, and this year will continue despite COVID-19.
In fact, according to Ed Choklek, president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, this year they were awarded a $20,000 grant by the city to help adapt to the pandemic. The Society celebrated their 10 year anniversary and decided their celebration should include applying for the grant to help fund the changes the Nights Off the Street, or NOTS, shelter, would need in order to comply with the COVID-19 guidelines.
According to Choklek, one of the guidelines is that bedding materials cannot be shared or reused. Part of the grant is going toward purchasing individual sleeping bags for the shelter’s guests.
“There have already been over a hundred sleeping bags purchased, and another hundred will be purchased soon,” said Choklek.
The grant will also go toward purchasing PPE not only for the volunteers but for the guests as well.
“Upon entering the shelter everyone has their temperatures checked as a precaution, and people will have masks, face shields, gloves, etc., which will be furnished every night to the volunteers and the guests staying overnight,” said Choklek.
The grant will also go toward the materials, supplies and labor that will be needed to fully sanitize the churches, as well as the buses used to transport guests to the shelter each night.
“The churches wouldn’t be able to afford this without going deeper into their pockets than normal, so we were very fortunate to get these grants,” said Choklek.
While most years the shelters are well stocked with volunteers, due to COVID-19 this year, they are in need of community volunteers to help out. Many of the volunteers are senior citizens, said Choklek, who don’t feel comfortable due to COVID-19 concerns.
Each night there are three shifts for volunteers who work in two-person teams that last approximately three hours, said Choklek. In the past, they’ve had around 250 community volunteers step in to help out each winter.
The shelter opens at 9 p.m. and closes at 6:30 a.m. Guests who wish to use the shelter will need to arrive at the FISH parking lot at 8:45 p.m. and will be bused by the Salvation Army to the shelter location.
The location of the shelter will rotate through various Carson City churches throughout the cold months. The schedule is as follows:
Nov. 15 - Nov. 30: St. Paul's Lutheran Church
Dec. 1 - Dec. 15: First Presbyterian Church
Dec. 16 - Dec. 31: First United Methodist Church
Jan. 1 - March 31: Salvation Army on E. Colorado Street
The NOTS Shelter will officially open Sunday, Nov. 15. An email group will be maintained for contact with all volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with this worthy local cause, please contact the NOTS shelter by emailing notscarson@gmail.com or calling 775-350-9511.
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