The Franklin County Coalition to End Homelessness met last night, October 24th, to talk about and train people interested in helping with an emergency shelter from the cold this winter. Last year they were able to throw together a fully staffed shelter for 8 days during an extreme cold snap and this year, they wanted to be prepared in advance. Coalition spokesperson Brett Staneslow says just under 40 people attended the meeting, including 5th District Legislature House of Representatives incumbent, Rebecca Schmoe who has made solving homelessness a priority, and a person from Wellsville who wanted to see how they set things up so she could take the information back to Wellsville.
The first half of the meeting was a question and answer session, and the second half was a volunteer training session. They spent time assembling tent and cot setups that will be used in the shelter. Staneslow says the majority of those at the meeting at the beginning, stayed for the volunteer training.
If you didn’t make the meeting, you can still volunteer, go to the Franklin County Coalition To End Homelessness facebook page and leave them a message.
Staneslow says the shelter will be open when the temperature falls below 20 degrees. It will be located at the First Baptist Church in Elliot Hall.
