MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The new emergency triage shelter at Morgantown’s Hazel’s House of Hope is officially open.
Catholic Charities West Virginia announced that the facility now known as the Grace Shelter is now fully operational and has reached near full capacity less than a month after being opened. Catholic Charities West Virginia President and CEO Mark Phillips expressed excitement over the near instant use of the Grace Shelter, which had all but one of their 28 beds occupied by the time the public was shown the facilities in mid-October.
“We started at the beginning of September with about six people in the shelter, and we ramped up to the point to where we are almost full,” Phillips said.
The management transition included adding Shelter Director Jessica Thompson and retraining former Bartlett Housing Solutions employees prior to the September start date for Catholic Charities West Virginia to operate the shelter. According to Phillips, the majority of the employees from the Bartlett House were retained, with the training period taking place over a few weeks.
“We had to make a couple of changes in the interim, just to make sure that we had staff that were treating our guests with the kind of compassion that we expect from employees at Catholic Charities,” said Phillips. “But the vast majority of them have been able to stay on and have understood what our service model looks like,” he said.
Phillips also added that the goal for the Grace Shelter is to have individuals in their 28-bed facility be in stable housing within a 45-day period. This will be done through a staff-supported needs assessment, which will include the offering of services from neighboring social services within Hazel’s House of Hope and the Morgantown area. With individuals ranging from people suffering from medical ailments and drug addiction to even immigrants who arrived in the Mountain State expected to occupy beds, Catholic Charities West Virginia plans to address issues on an individualized basis.
“What we’re really good at is being able to talk with somebody where they come in and figure out where they are,” Phillips said on WAJR’s Talk of the Town. “(We find out) How did they end up where they are, and we can figure out what are their barriers, are they employable, do they have a support system, maybe somewhere else in the country that they just need help getting back to,” he said.
The Grace Shelter at Hazel’s House of Hope will work with Morgantown area charitable organizations such as Christian Help as part of their 28-bed operation. Phillips also added that the Morgantown Resources Applied for Mutual Progress (RAMP) and the Salvation Army will be among those assisting with shelter operations, with the Salvation Army already serving meals out of Hazel’s House of Hope’s Hope Cafe. With the social service infrastructure in place, Phillips and the rest of the Catholic Charities employees at Grace Shelter are ready to go to work.
“If they came to our door, chances are, they have decided that they need to find something new to do,” said Phillips. “So we can present them what those options are, and if the Grace Shelter isn’t a good fit for them, we have community partners who often can help,” he said.