Ann Thompson, United Way’s chief executive officer, said the agency plans to hold a workshop to bring together all the different shelters, food banks and other resources to see what can be done to help coordinate more effective ways of helping people in need.
“We have no interest in being in the shelter business and never will,” Thompson said. What they can do is bring people together who have the common interest of helping others in need.
United Way President Ken Valka said in a press release the United Way is in the unique position of being able to unify resources of its 28 supported social agencies.
“There’s no coordination,” Thompson said of local efforts for the homeless.
Although the recent possibility of the men’s dorm at Martha’s Kitchen being closed for city code violations helped to put this process in motion, Thompson stressed that United Way is not saying there’s not a place for Martha’s Kitchen. In fact, she hopes their representatives come to meetings to discuss the many needs homeless people have.
“The intent of this initiative is not about taking sides between the city of Temple and Martha’s Kitchen,” Thompson said.
United Way is also prepared to work with the Salvation Army, which said it was doing a feasibility study on a local shelter. Thompson said information garnered at the planned meetings could be useful for the Salvation Army.
While the Martha’s Kitchen shelter was given a reprieve this week with a temporary injunction against the city closing it for code violations, the situation did open some eyes around town.
Thompson called the triage effort by area agencies for 72 people who faced a quick eviction from Martha’s Kitchen fascinating. “It’s not one population,” she said, saying some people living there are on salaries, at least one was a college student, some were “living on the cheap” and others had obvious mental problems.
“A lot of agencies stepped up,” she said of the effort to help, noting that there might have been a perception that all of the Martha’s Kitchen residents would be thrown out on the street - and because of efforts by the agencies and volunteers that was not the case.
One thing that became clear is that some of the people at Martha’s Kitchen could use more help than the food and roof that the shelter provides.
“They don’t claim to do anything else,” Thompson said, noting that has been what Martha’s Kitchen has done from the start. “But it is a temporary fix, not a solution to their problems.
“Homeless individuals should not be homeless for an extended period of time. It should be a temporary situation, until support is found, and the person finds a way out of the situation.”
Valka said with the help of all local social agencies, they have the ability to study underlying causes of homelessness, then to plan and organize long-term solutions.
The United Way board voted to make formulation of a long-term solution to homeless needs in Bell County one of the organization’s top priorities.
