LAKEPORT >> Baby, it’s cold outside — especially when you’re homeless, hungry and almost hopeless. But a group of area churches has come together to offer hope and a place where the county’s homeless can warm their bodies and hearts.
The coalition of churches has opened Lake County’s only warming center for homeless persons, including women, children and veterans. It has enlisted the help of Lake Transit Authority to bus the less fortunate to and from the center that is off the beaten path.
“The whole point of this is to make people feel comfortable and safe,” said Bob Hamilton, center team leader. “We furnish them with a sleeping bag and cot when they get here and they can take the sleeping bag with them when they leave.”
The center is at the Lakeport Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1111 Park Way at Hill Road East and is operated by the Lake Ministerial Association, a coalition of area churches, according to president Pastor Shannon Kimbell-Auth.
The warming shelter has room for 24 people and it is expected to reach capacity by the end of the week, Kimbell-Auth said. The center opened Jan. 4 and has had guests every night, including one night with 10 visitors. It is open 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday-Friday through April 1.
During their stay, guests receive dinner and a breakfast-to-go along with access to restrooms and showers. The food is donated by members of the six churches.
The center is the culmination of 15 years of work by the association to open a permanent homeless shelter in the county.
“Our goal is to not only get people out of the cold for 13 weeks but all year round,” she said.
On Monday night, the center hosted five homeless men, starting them off with a dinner of vegetarian pasta, Caesar salad and a dinner roll. After the meal, the men sat around talking with volunteers. By 10 p.m., all had retired to the sleeping area.
The reasons the guests ended up homeless are varied, including several who were displaced by last September’s Valley Fire that devastated Hidden Valley Lake, Middletown and Cobb Mountain communities.
One of the fire refugees is Chaplain Rucks, formerly of Oakland and Cobb, who has been at the center every night since it opened. There is no limit on the number of nights a guest can stay.
“I’ve had a lot of experience volunteering at food banks and homeless shelters,” Rucks said. “Now, because of the fire, I find myself homeless.”
Rucks, though, is not one to complain, saying he tries to make the best out of any situation he’s in.
“I’m enjoying my homelessness,” he quipped. “I’m homeless by choice.”
Rucks said he bought property on Cobb Mountain the day the fire started, Sept. 12, not aware of the fire. “Now I own 25 acres of land on Cobb Mountain — land, but no structures or trees.”
Center volunteer Charlotte “Char” Wergim is in the opposite situation as Rucks. Once homeless herself, she is now housed but still feels a strong connection to those who remain homeless.
“I’ve been in that situation before and I found that doors were opened for me and now I’m returning the favor,” Wergim said. “You reap what you sow.”
Center occupancy is on a first-come, first-housed basis. With the center expected to soon reach capacity, it means that some homeless people will have to be turned away, no matter how cold or rainy it is. It’s a prospect that Wergim and the other volunteers dread.
“It will be very hard when we have to turn away people with no safe place to refer them to,” she said, adding it goes against her Christian beliefs. However, the 24-person limit was set by the county, not the ministerial association.
Volunteers from six area churches staff the center but more volunteers are needed, including people to keep the center open on weekends, Kimbell-Auth said.
Lake Transit provides free transportation to and from the center, although on a limited schedule. Guests can board the bus at the Third and Main streets bus stop in Lakeport at 6:14 p.m. In the morning, the bus will leave the center around 7 a.m. and provide free rides to any stop along bus route 8.
Kimbell-Auth said the association is working to get bus transportation to the shelter for homeless veterans in Clearlake.
A recent census found 170 homeless persons in Lake County but many of the homeless — and others — believe the figure is much higher, probably between 500 and 1,000, of which about 16 percent are veterans. And unlike many areas, the homeless population in Lake County is mostly stationary rather than transitory or seasonal.
One unknown equation is the Valley Fire, which displaced thousands of people, leaving a yet undetermined number of people homeless. Some of these will probably will not fully recover and become part of the permanent homeless population.
The total cost of operating the shelter is expected to be about $10,000 of which $6,000 comes from grants, Kimbell-Auth said. The single largest expense is a security guard.
Participating churches are Lakeport Community Seventh-day Adventist, St. John’s Episcopal, Lake County Bible Fellowship and United Christian Parish, all of Lakeport; Galilee Lutheran of Kelseyville and New Hope Community of Lucerne.
Persons wishing to volunteer can contact Kimbell-Auth at (707) 263-4788. While donations of food and clothing are not being accepted, cash donations are needed,
