Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 12/3/2020
ENFIELD, CT – Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Enfield Safe Harbor Warming Center will be operating as an Engagement and Outreach center starting Jan. 3 through March 27, 2021 two or three nights a week from 6 to 9 p.m.
“Before the COVID pandemic, we were able to have guests stay overnight at the warming center,” said Executive Director Monica Wright. “This year, we now have an outreach and engagement model and we’ll still be serving the homeless just in a different capacity.”
She continued, “We have numerous volunteer opportunities from fundraising to goods and services to helping out at the Engagement center. I encourage people who want to volunteer to absolutely come along and help out.”
The organization is in need of volunteers to help them set up, clean, tear down and sanitize. Along with this, they need assistance in counting how many people are entering the center, making sure guests follow safety protocols and directing guests to exit through a separate area from the entrance.
The center will use St. Raymond of Penafort (also known as St. Patrick’s Church) at 64 Pearl St. in Thompsonville as their Engagement facility for homeless guests to receive snack items, winter clothing and possibly Magic Carpet tokens to connect them with agencies for overnight shelter.
"We’re reaching out to the homeless in the area,” Wright replied. “My target this year is especially those who are in encampment and those who are living in cars. With the situation with COVID, a lot of these shelters have cut down to half capacity and many warming centers have actually stopped operating. I want to reach out to those homeless people or anyone who’s homeless that comes in and get them connected into the resources so they can find adequate shelter as well as somewhere to live.”
Wright also said the rent moratorium is going to cease as of Dec. 31. She explained that they don’t know what that looks like, but the more people she can connect with who are homeless, Wright believes the chances would be better to find them adequate shelter and an adequate place to live.
“With the outreach and engagement model, we’ll be passing out T-shirts, underwear, socks, essential toiletries and care bags,” Wright added. “For those who may be sleeping in their cars, we’ll have blankets and pillows. We're trying to make people as comfortable as possible in times like this until we can find somewhere or help them get into the 211 system.”
The center is looking for items to help keep the homeless safe during the pandemic which are bandanas, masks, gloves and mini hand sanitizers. As numbers of infection have increased, Wright explained a lot of the places that they utilize during the day have closed down. The center is looking for items so that the homeless can go into places safely and not have to worry about being kicked out because they don’t have a mask. In addition, the center needs more snack items, socks and T-shirts.
“My hope going into next year as this year winds down we pray for a vaccine, but also that people really look at what homelessness really is,” Wright responded. “This pandemic was so unexpected and we don’t realize that when something like this happens, the homeless are so vulnerable. When we first started, the libraries shut down so they couldn’t utilize basic bathroom privileges. They couldn’t get something to eat because everything was drive-through.”
She concluded, “Little things like that we don’t think about on a regular basis and how it upsets someone who is homeless. We have to do better when it comes to our homeless population. It’s about people who lost their jobs, livelihood and homes living in their cars and tenting in the woods. When something like this happens, we really have to come up with a plan.”
Training is scheduled at St. Patrick’s Church on Dec. 15, where volunteers can be trained in all safety and health protocols. Anyone interested in donating can call Monica Wright at 860-970-9065 or email at mwright.eshwc@gmail.com.