Being homeless in the Star City
IN THE CITY
by Matthew J. Irwin
The transition from fall to winter provides a perfect opportunity to consider a condition in our community, which impacts too many of our citizens and yet goes unrealized by most.
The condition is homelessness. While homeless residents face so many challenges these days, the challenges faced by being homeless in a frigid climate such as northern Maine in the winter are dire.
Over the last few months I have become more and more familiar with the homeless issues in central Aroostook and the data is quite alarming as we head into the cold months ahead. The organization responsible for assisting the homeless, Homeless Services of Aroostook, have seen their shelter filled to capacity for months and there is no end in sight. This organization runs an emergency shelter that serves all of Aroostook County and is in fact, the only homeless shelter in the county. When the shelter is filled, the result is people must be turned away. In September 2011, there were 30 people who where turned away because there were no beds available. A term I recently became familiar with is “bed night.” A bed night represents one bed occupied for one night. In the month of September alone, the Homeless Services of Aroostook accounted for 799 bed nights, many of these beds occupied by children — yes, you read that right … in a 30-day period there were 799 bed nights.
The Director of the Homeless Services of Aroostook, Mr. Stephen Eyler, has implemented a rigid screening process that seeks to ensure safety at the shelter for the families in need of assistance. This means those using drugs and alcohol or those who have any violent criminal backgrounds cannot stay; and therein lays a couple of different issues. First, most people associate homelessness with some sort of criminal or anti-social behavior — that perception is incorrect. Secondly, there are some people who don’t qualify to be sheltered in our emergency shelter but are still in desperate need of a place to stay warm.
Aroostook County, like much of the rest of the United States is facing very difficult economic times. Those of us who are fortunate enough to help with donations, either food, clothing, or financially should consider doing so. Director Eyler is running a great program that helps so many people in our community with very limited resources. He has some great ideas about expanding the ability of the organization to meet greater demands and the program is worthy of this community’s concern and consideration.
I urge you to contact the shelter at 764-4125 to learn how you may contribute to this worthwhile cause.
Chief Matthew J. Irwin of the Presque Isle Police Department can be reached at 764-4474 or via e-mail at mirwin@presqueisleme.us.
