The cold weather will be here soon and many local homeless shelters are preparing for what could be a busy winter, this comes as their funds hang in limbo with no state budget passed and the federal government still shutdown.
Work has already begun to get homeless and warming shelters ready for the upcoming winter season.
According to Erin Layden, the Director of Development for the Erie City Mission, “Our street teams are out there making sure that our beds are offered to them if they need to come in off the street. We have been in talks with the county about the warming center and how the mission can get involved if that needs to be open prior to their start date. So we have already had those conversations so we are willing and able and ready to open our doors.”
The care and concern for Erie’s homeless population doesn’t stop just because funding could look different this year.
As Layden explained, “We take very little government funding. So we are 95 percent privately funded, so it’s because of our local community that we are able to keep moving on without the federal shutdown having much of an effect on us. But we are partners with a lot of non-profits that are struggling with that.”
Nonprofits like the Erie City Mission have had to get creative when it comes to getting money to continue the work they do. Although a temporary pause, it could lead to lasting effects for nonprofits.
The Erie City Mission is getting ready for their Box of Love event. It’s part of their Thanksgiving outreach program happening on November 24th at 8:00 a.m.