SHELTER COVID UPDATE
www.UnionShelter.org l April 30 , 2020
Through May 5 (and beyond), the Community Shelter of Union County is participating in #GivingTuesdayNow, a global effort of unity and giving.

The Shelter provides food, emergency shelter and rehousing to neighbors experiencing hunger and homelessness in our county. The need for those three services has grown dramatically during this COVID-19 crisis.

At the same time, our expenses have also grown dramatically due to critical changes in staffing, food service and housing to keep clients, volunteers and staff safe and healthy.
We hope you will join us in showing your support.
Your donations will give emergency
food and shelter to county residents in need.
Here's how COVID-19 has impacted the Community Shelter .
We now serve meals on disposable products for safety. That’s more than1,500 sets of plates, cups and cutlery each week!

Many of our wonderful meal providers have temporarily canceled their service due to concern about their own health and safety. And we totally understand. Staff now is preparing many more meals, requiring unbudgeted product and time. This year, we’ve served more than 68,114 meals in our dining hall.

We started a weekly drive-thru mobile pantry, giving bags of staple foods, fresh produce and meats to county residents who need our help. This has driven up our year-to-date distribution of food bags to 6,509 individuals.

We continue to provide emergency shelter to homeless residents. We have provided 24,096 nights of emergency shelter in 10 months, up from a total of 18,435 last year.

Due to health vulnerability, 16 Shelter residents were relocated to local motel rooms.

We also are helping our rehoused clients with supports to avoid eviction due to lost of income and job.

Scheduled fundraising events have been canceled or postponed due to North Carolina’s social distancing mandate
Here’s a link to our Amazon wishlist where you can order online and have delivered to the Community Shelter facility.
Hundreds served weekly at our mobile food pantry
Last Friday’s mobile pantry drive-thru was the largest to date. Volunteers and staff gave meat, fresh produce, staple foods and more to families comprising 561 individuals!

Since March 15, we’ve distributed 3,092 bags of food! Families are getting a week to 10 days of food at each event.

Thanks to your donations, our neighbors needing food during this COVID-19 crisis are getting the food they need!
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who man the distribution, giving a grocery cart full of food to each family. And thank you to everyone who donated food.

Want to donate food or service supplies? Bring to the “donations” door between 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., avoiding mealtimes of 8 - 9 a.m., noon to 1 p.m. and 6 to 7 p.m.
We love when we can share our bounty with other organizations. We received 1,200 bed pillows recently and were happy to share with  Brookdale Senior Living , giving them 150 pillows to be distributed in multiple locations.
We love collaboration!
Scenes within the Community Shelter
Want to help?

  • Want to provide a meal? Call Tara Bryant at 704-261-3491. If you’d like to donate a meal, but cannot cook it, we encourage ordering a meal from a local restaurant for delivery. A win-win situation!

  • Need food assistance? Call Victoria Maye at 704-261-3496.
  • Want to donate money? 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.

Please stay safe!