Letter to the Editor: We need your help – Our shelter is in crisis

For more than 10 years, Beyond Homeless has been a place of refuge for women and children in Greencastle and the greater Putnam County area. We have welcomed over 1,300 women and children into our care, offering not just emergency shelter but dignity, compassion, and a path forward. We have also helped more than 600 families stay in their homes through rent, utility, food and clothing assistance. When men have come to us with nowhere to go, we have worked to secure temporary housing for them too.

We are the only organization in the area offering this kind of support. But today, we are facing a financial crisis and we cannot continue without your help. Federal and state funding has decreased, become unreliable and may be eliminated altogether in this tumultuous time. Currently, it covers only two months of our shelter’s annual expenses and provides no support for the staff who carry out this vital work. The people who show up every day to care for our most vulnerable neighbors are not included in that funding, and their efforts go unsupported by public dollars.

Executive Director Lea Durbin and her staff still show up every day for their neighbors, but those efforts only go so far without adequate funding.

Without your support, we face difficult decisions about the future of Beyond Homeless and we ask ourselves:

• What happens to the 130 women and children who come to us each year seeking refuge from the storm?

• Who will pay the utility bills that keep lights on and water running for families one paycheck away from disaster?

• When rent keeps climbing and wages don’t keep up, where will families go when eviction is at their door?

• When parents must choose between putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads, who will help feed their children?

We depend on individuals, churches, businesses and foundations to fill the gap. Without this support, we cannot keep our doors open.

Beyond Homeless is more than a shelter. It is a promise that no one in our community has to face homelessness alone. But right now, that promise is at risk.

Please make a gift today to help us continue this vital work, and consider setting up a monthly donation through our website:

 https://www.beyondhomelessinc.org/ .

Your continued support helps us provide shelter, stability, and hope every single day to those who need it most. Every gift makes a difference.

Beyond Homeless Inc. Board of Directors

President Sam Draper

Alice Greenburg

Tammy Hunter

Bob Jedele

 J.D. Miller

 Valerie Rudolph