About 25 people who are experiencing homelessness have been staying since last week in a new shelter opened by Homeward Bound of Wooster and Wayne County.
The organization held a ribbon cutting at the shelter, a former nightclub, Monday.
The building, just south of Downtown Wooster, was renovated over the past few months to include a kitchen, living room, office space and 44 beds, said Cynthia Bonidie, executive director of the facility.
“They can come in here and get their needs met so they don’t worry about where they’re sleeping tonight, where they have to run to, how much time it takes to run across town to get that lunch,” Bonidie said. “Just, changing the mindset of every single day surviving will hopefully open their mind to, ‘I like this, I like being stable.’”
While the center is open year-round from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., it will also operate as an emergency overnight shelter from Nov. 1 through April 30, Bonidie said.
About 25 people who had been staying at an emergency shelter at the Salvation Army were welcomed into the new facility last week, Bonidie said.
Already, she said, she has heard meaningful feedback from guests.
“[One guest] said, ‘I’ve never slept in a brand-new bed before, in my whole life,’” Bonidie said. “That was exciting that he had that moment, and decided to share it with us.”
The goal of the shelter, she said, is to meet individuals where they are and help them with their basic daily needs. The shelter will provide meals, showers, cell phone charging stations and laundry services, she said.
“Hopefully they like it enough where they’re like, ‘I want this. I want this stability, I want to be housed, where do I start?’” Bonidie said.
Jeramie Paul, a volunteer at the shelter, used to be homeless, he said. Taking care of basic needs helps people get back on their feet, he said.
“It’s nice to have a place to shower, and have your own spot, where you can go out and now, all of a sudden, you’re a part of society,” Paul said. “You’re not something that people are trying to get rid of.”
Paul said he has now been in stable housing for a little over a year and gives back to the agencies that assisted him through volunteering at the shelter.
Representatives from various local agencies will hold office hours in the building to connect clients to resources, Bonidie added. A representative from the Viola Startzman Clinic, a low-cost health care facility, will also be in the facility to assist with guests’ physical and mental health needs, she said.
The shelter also has a backyard patio area where individuals can hang out outside during the warmer months.
“It’s nice that they can have a backyard and an outside that they’re not sleeping in,” Bonidie said.
More than 100 people are experiencing homelessness in Wayne County, Bonidie added. Many of them stay in their cars or in tents, she said. Advocates for people without housing say these numbers have risen in the past few years primarily due to a lack of affordable housing.
