IN THIS NEWSLETTER
- Shelter helps 69 families with rent, utilities during COVID
- Collaborative drive-thru pantry feeds 1,193
- Food Lion provides $2,000 grant for food
- Can you help provide food to distribute to our neighbors in need?
- Can you, your friends or business provide a meal for our dining clients?
- Donate here
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Here’s how the Shelter helped Stephanie
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S
tephanie* is a 38-year-old woman who was working two jobs when she came to the Community Shelter seeking emergency housing. She was dedicated to working through the Shelter’s Rapid Rehousing program quickly and to saving money for her own home.
And she had another very big incentive - her children. The three, ages 11, 12 and 14, were currently living with their father, and she missed them terribly.
Stephanie was determined to regain custody of her children once she was rehoused and stable again. She worked very diligently with her case manager and within two months saved enough money to secure a home for her family.
With the Shelter paying her first month rent and security deposit and using the Shelter’s Home Again program for donated furniture and other
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Photo Illustration
necessities, Stephanie happily moved into her new home.
Stephanie was highly-motivated client who worked relentlessly to reunite with her family.
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Shelter helps 69 families with rent, utilities during COVID
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Here’s how a COVID-prompted furlough sent a local woman to the Community Shelter for rent assistance.
Judith, not her real name, was a Shelter resident in 2014. The woman with developmental disabilities, now in her 40s, had lived with her mother until her mother’s death and soon became homeless.
But after living briefly at the Shelter, Judith had saved enough money to obtain and continue to pay for her own apartment.
Through hard work, she had achieved independence. Everything was good until March.
Like other restaurants in North Carolina, the restaurant where she worked busing tables closed to indoor diners in March. Immediately, she was out of work. But she had rent and utilities to pay. Connecting with the Shelter, Judith was able to obtain financial assistance to pay those bills.
Fast forward to July. Judith is back to work, since her restaurant has reopened to limited indoor dining, but her hours are limited to eight hours a week – not nearly enough to cover her bills.
Judith is lucky; her landlord plans to work with her until she can make enough money to pay her rent. Others are not so fortunate.
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The Community Shelter of Union County has helped 69 Union County households pay rent and utilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The households of 160 family members, including 69 children, have been unable to pay those regular monthly expenses due to layoffs or furloughs. Some households continue to be without income as the wage-earners either wait for their job to resume or seek other employment.
The assistance, almost $70,0000, has kept rent and utilities from mounting, critical for low- or middle-incomed workers. Funding for the payments was obtained from FEMA’s Emergency Food & Shelter Program, United Way and Cardinal Innovations Healthcare.
That money is now nearly gone, but the need for eviction assistance grows. Shelter staff continues to apply for additional grants, when available, to help more county residents in need.
“Inability to pay rent and utilities is not a short-term problem,” said Melissa McKeown, chief operating officer for the Community Shelter. “Many residents in Union County have been out of work since March, and with the extension of Phase 2, many will continue to be out of work until at least Aug 7.
“No income and no housing means more Union County residents will be homeless through circumstances outside their control.
“Even when employees can return to work, their financial problems won’t be solved. Many low-wage earners live month to month on their limited income, stretching it as far as they can to cover their bills. Some households already were living on the edge, needing assistance with food each month.
“During COVID, they have had no earnings to pay current monthly expenses, much less to catch up on past expenses. When they go back to work, many working residents will owe at least three or four months back rent. Imagine trying to pay four months of back rent, at $700 a month as example, when your total monthly income of $1,255 barely covers your current month’s bills.” (North Carolina’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour equals $1,255 a month when averaged over 12 months.)
Legal protection for renters facing eviction ended last month, and eviction hearings are imminent.
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Collaborative drive-thru
pantry feeds 305 families with 1,193 members
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Upwards of 40 volunteers worked in sweltering heat to load the cars with multiple boxes and bags of groceries.
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CAN YOU HELP?
We have a big need for foods to distribute in drive-thru pantries to those in need.
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Here’s a link to our
Amazon wishlist where you can order online and have delivered to the Community Shelter facility.
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143,212 meals, 172,060 pounds of food distributed since March
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Food Lion provides $2,000 food grant
The Community Shelter of Union County has received a $2,000 grant from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation just in time to help feed local neighbors. The Shelter will use the gift to purchase food in its pantry and prepared meals programs.
“We appreciate the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation gift,” said Kathy Bragg, Shelter CEO, “and Food Lion’s continued support of the community.”
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We need meal providers - can you help?
Providing meals for our clients is a huge part of the services that we offer. We serve three meals a day in our dining hall. The number of diners varies with meal and day - our food service staff can give you a good number when you book a meal. Breakfasts are at 8 .m., lunch at noon and supper at 6 p.m.
Here are three ways you can help
- Prepare a meal from home and bring to the Shelter.
- Prepare a meal and bring up to four volunteers to serve the meal.
- Financially sponsor a meal
- Order a catered meal to be delivered to the Shelter (helpful for our local restaurants)
Serving groups are limited to four volunteers in the kitchen, and all must wear masks and gloves.
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Sunday, Aug. 2, breakfast
Wednesday, Aug. 19, supper
Sunday, Aug. 30, lunch
Monday, Aug. 31, supper
Sunday, Sept. 6, breakfast
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Sunday, Sept. 6, supper
Monday, Sept. 7, breakfast
Monday, Sept. 7, lunch
Sunday, Sept. 13, supper
Tuesday, Sept. 29, supper
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- Your financial donation allows us to use the funds in the most-efficient way. Click DONATE or send a check to 160 Meadow St., Monroe, NC 28110.
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Connect with us at 704.289.5300 or at uccs@UnionShelter.org.
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