Helping the homeless

Homelessness in Rockingham County may not be as visible with beggars on street corners or people camped outside public buildings downtown, but some may be surprised to find out how prevalent the problem is in the area.

The Reidsville Area Foundation is working with the faith-based community after Rockingham County Help for Homeless could not afford to setup the annual shelter that used to run from January to March.

Program Officer Melodie Watt and Executive Director Craig Cardwell are working with local ministers like Bill Duke of First Baptist Church in Reidsville and other ministerial alliances to get the job done. Watt said instead of the system utilized by Help for Homeless in the past, they will use a new system modeled after one in Wake County.

“When Sharon (Foust) explained the process of what it would take to run the shelter with staying overnight,  and other screens such as breathalyzer tests and criminal background checks, they didn’t believe they had the resources in place to handle it,” Watt said.

From that meeting, former director Sharon Foust of the Help for Homeless organization mentioned the support circles system. It utilizes churches to give a donation of approximately $600 from their budgets to support a family on $6,000 per year. The funding would provide for food, housing, utilities and volunteers from the churches could provide transportation, if necessary, for families to get public assistance benefits.

Cardwell said, “Our role is to try and get people together to look at alternatives because this is a cause that’s been here and one we’ve supported in the past.”

The Reidsville Area Foundation enlisted the help of Roberta Macauley, director of the Faith Community Support Circle Program for Homeless Families in Raleigh. She led a recent meeting with the faith-based community and the foundation. Watt said one of the best things about the video was seeing a testimonial of someone whose life had been turned around with a little bit of help.
“We’re trying to coordinate with Help for Homeless and find a way to get a personal story attached to it, because so many times, that’s what pulls the heartstrings,” she said.

Cardwell said this support will do more for the homeless population in Rockingham County.

“When you look at how the resources were used for the homeless population, you really hadn’t improved anyone’s lot in life that much,” he said. “I think that’s what really attracted me to this project. If you pool together $6,000 to adopt the family, you get them a permanent address for a year and they’ve got that address they can use to apply for a job or receive other benefits. It’s more permanent and it’s not a shelter.”

With this type of help, Cardwell said they may be able to get back on their feet in four months, six months or possibly a little over a year.

“If there’s enough community support for this, we may be able to release some funds from our foundation to help pay for a couple of families just to get it off the ground,” he said. “But this is happening at a time when resources are scarce at best, and we can’t do it by ourselves.”

Cardwell said he’s hoping churches and other organizations from across the county will consider the merits of this project and decide to help.

A meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 21, 2012, at First Baptist Church in Reidsville for churches, organizations, private businesses and anyone wanting to help support families in Rockingham County. The church is located at 409 S. Main St. For additional information, call Bill Duke (336) 342-4227.