HELENA — Over the past year, the community has lost over twenty unsheltered people, and a big part of that is Montana’s harsh climate.
“Obviously, the need is to just keep people safe,” Jeff Buscher, the community impact coordinator for the United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area, said.
(WATCH: Emergency shelter plan aims to support the unhoused this winter)
With one overnight shelter limiting its operations this winter, the United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area is looking to keep the unhoused both warm and safe.
“It’s about survival,” Rad Montee, an unhoused member of the community, said.
These efforts come after God’s Love Shelter announced in late September that they are restricting the shelter to only those who provide proof of mental health and addiction recovery help.
Buscher said, “The quickest and most convenient has been asking the faith communities to step up and provide an emergency shelter during the bitter cold nights.”
United Way is working with COAD, or Community Organizations Active in Disaster, and has found three volunteer shelters so far: St. Paul's United Methodist, St. John's Lutheran, and Headwaters Covenant Church, all of which will be trained in CPR and Narcan use.
“We have kind of drawn a line at around 10 or 15 degrees, depending on the weather conditions, on when to activate this shelter plan,” Buscher said.
Depending on the season, Helena’s unhoused populations range from 100 to as many as 200, and God’s Love would often have upwards of fifty people utilizing the facility prior to operation changes, numbers the emergency shelters aim to accommodate beginning in the new year.
Buscher said, “The city has stepped up, and when these churches volunteer to be a site, they will send an inspector and fire marshal to make sure the space they want to use is safe, has appropriate exits, accessible, and all those things.”
The community can help in many ways: by volunteering overnight at one of the emergency shelters, donating blankets, cots, or warm clothing, or by making a monetary donation to the United Way.
“I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, but the one choice I did not mess up on was choosing this community to have my family because this is an outstanding community and there is a lot of love here,” Montee said.
These shelters are a temporary fix to get people through the winter as the United Way works on a more sustainable long-term plan.
