“We weren’t sure it was going to happen, but we had heard it was going to be recommended,” said Judy Morales, director of the Temple HELP Center and a member of the Heart of Temple Angels Alliance.
The alliance - made up of pastors, business people, residents and social service personnel - met last week to develop a contingency plan in case the shelter was shut down, Morales said.
“We have a phenomenal relationship between the agencies and their volunteers,” she said.
Agencies represented were the Temple HELP Center, Salvation Army, Central Texas Council of Government housing division, the VA, Heart of Central Texas Independent Living Center, MHMR and Central Texas on Alcoholism, Citizens for Progress and United Way of Central Texas.
On Tuesday morning, representatives were in place at 819 S. Fifth St. to assist residents of Martha’s Kitchen men’s shelter in looking at their options.
Some who dropped by were not Martha’s Kitchen residents, but were homeless.
“A lot of people won’t stay at Martha’s Kitchen because of the conditions,” Morales said. “There’s a definite need for a change … we cannot allow people to live in those conditions.”
Morales said she would like to see a shelter that will provide people with a safe haven and has a program in place that will give them the resources they need.
The goal of the group this week is to determine the individual’s needs, pool resources and get shelter for residents and the homeless.
Most of these people want a major change in their lives, Morales said.
“We want to present them with a plan, whether they need to go to a shelter or permanent housing,” Morales said. “Everybody’s different and all their needs are different. We just want to provide them with something that will help them move to the next step … to be self sufficient.”
Pat Patterson, a Realtor who has built low-income housing in Temple and Belton for the past six years, came by to see if any of his apartments or duplexes could be used for Section 8 housing, housing that receives federal subsidies if used for low income families.
Patterson has duplexes in the immediate area of Martha’s Kitchen.
“I feel like folks at the lowest income level deserve a nice place to live, too,” he said.
The alliance has identified a number of shelters in the area - Waco, Killeen, Austin - and is providing bus tickets and HOP tickets for those who want to relocate, she said.
“We have about 80 beds identified that are available,” Morales said.
Eleanor Herrera was talking to the Martha’s Kitchen residents about the Salvation Army’s programs.
“If they don’t qualify for housing with one of the other agencies we will help them get into rehab, a shelter or buy them a bus ticket to family,” Herrera said. “If they do qualify, we can help them with first month’s rent and utilities.”
Rita Jo Guerra, a volunteer, was passing out fliers to Martha’s Kitchen residents on Tuesday informing them of the assistance the area agencies were offering.
Some of the shelter residents had been told not to seek the help because the shelter wasn’t going to close, Guerra said. She was thrilled when one of the men she talked to told her he had been helped when he visited with the agencies.
“I told him to please go back and tell his friends,” she said.
By Tuesday afternoon, the agency representatives were going over applications to determine which group could best help the individual residents. One man was going to go into rehab with the Salvation Army and another, just out of prison, got a bus ticket to Oklahoma so he could stay with his father. Several others were veterans and had been referred to the VA’s homeless veterans program.
Martha’s Clinic, a student-founded and A&M medical student-run free health clinic for the homeless and indigent population of Temple and surrounding Bell County, is housed in the basement of Martha’s Kitchen men’s shelter.
The clinic is closed, but will reopen in a new location as soon as possible, said Sue Hamby, a Temple businesswoman who along with a partner has been involved in developing a number of homes in the Avenue G area.
“They will be some place, we’re just not sure where,” Hamby said.
