MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Members of the Morgantown Church of Christ shared their recent interactions with the homeless community and presented a proposal for non-congregate shelters.
Youth Minister Brandon Brammer said about six months ago he began an outreach into the Morgantown homeless community and said he was saddened by what he found. On Sundays, Brammer travels to some of the camps around the Morgantown area, including downtown, to distribute food and fellowship.
“The way these people are referred to, the way that I hear people speaking about them—they’ve been robbed of all humanity because of their addiction, their homelessness, and their current situation,” Brammer said. “My hope is that we will begin to see them as people with potential and people with families.”
As his Sunday visits became more predictable, he developed a social relationship with many of the campers and said safety wasn’t an issue. He admitted that many of the campers are drug addicts and may commit crimes, but the punishment for that should not be freezing to death or going hungry.
“I would say that’s not always true because I take women and children into these camps to provide food,” Brammer said. “In the six months that I’ve done it, that’s not to say it couldn’t happen and not to say I’ve let my guard down, but we’ve had nothing but positive experiences.”
The church travels to Honduras regularly to build 16-foot by 16-foot shelters for those in need and has adapted the idea for Morgantown.
These structures are proposed to be 10-foot by 12-foot with insulation, a bed, and an electric outlet. Brammer said the small homes are shelters, not homes, intended for short-term usage and cost about $3,000 to build.
“Both downtown and throughout our community, they’re willing to step in and say that if this is a project our city believes in and we can get the support of the council, I would be willing to give you “X” amount of dollars,” Brammer said. “Through these donations, I currently have over $10,000.”
The church would only construct the shelters at a location to be determined, possibly on the grounds of Hazel’s House of Hope. The city would be responsible.
“We hope they meet a case worker; they meet a familiar face who can say, I’m glad you came in tonight, and let’s get you a shower and a hot meal,” Brammer said. “They do that at Hazel’s, but the problem is there are not enough beds.”
“There does have to be enforcement,” Brammer said. “Sometimes it does take the strong arm of someone to say that I care about you enough that I’m going to use whatever force it takes to stop you from doing this.”
The proposal has been taken under advisement.