Two local homeless shelter coordinators spoke Tuesday night about the problem of homelessness in the Upper Valley and called for help from College students.
Patrice Dubois, a shelter director in Lebanon and Mary Feeney, director of The Haven in White River Junction, spoke as part of Hunger Awareness Week, which runs through Saturday.
Feeney said students can help shelters by collecting food and clothing, volunteering to help out in either shelter, or voting for legislators who are concerned with the problem of homelessness.
"As you go through life, try to commit one to two hours a week of going beyond you own existence and trying to help others," Feeney said.
Dubois said shelters are important to people who have nowhere else to turn. "By giving people information and alternative choices, we help them to live," she said.
Dubois said the Lebanon shelter caters to single homeless people. Last year, 80 percent of the temporary residents were men, but this year there has been a dramatic change, with many more women coming in than ever before, she said.
Sixty percent of the people who come in for help are substance abusers, Dubois said. Out of that number, 45 percent also go to a treatment facility and get help.
Dubois stressed that the decisions people make after they come in for help are completely up to them. "We have our share of good cases and bad cases," she said.
Citing a good case, Dubois told the story of a suicidal young woman who came to the shelter for help. The woman believed that no one cared for her, but with help from the shelter, she discovered that she had an alcohol problem and worked through it. Today, she is happily married and has children, Dubois said.
Dubois said many mentally ill people are homeless because mental hospitals have closed. Dubois said many mentally ill patients have been turned out into the communities.
Feeney said The Haven in White River Junction specializes in homeless families. She said children make up two-thirds of the homeless in the Upper Valley.
She said The Haven tries to provide a safe home environment for homeless people by making the building bright and cheerful.
"The Haven tries to provide much more than just band-aids such as food, shelter, and clothing for the families," Feeney said. "These things are very important, but don't solve any problems. We try to help the families identify what is wrong and how to get out of the situation they are in."
Feeney said examples of such programs are the Literacy Program, the Life Skills Training Program, where adults take courses helping them with parenting, nutrition, budget counseling and job skills, and the Thresholds and Decisions program where people are taught how to make a decision and accept the consequences.
