GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — As temperatures start to dip for really the first time this winter, more people in need are starting to go to downtown Grand Rapids homeless shelters overnight. Mel Trotter Ministries says the increase in people coming to the shelter has been happening since the summer and it only looks to get worse as the temps drop.
"We can serve 256 emergency shelter men with some overflow capacity," says Adrienne Goodstal, president at Mel Trotter. "Then we also serve families here."
And even with that capacity, Mel Trotter still can't take in everyone who shows up. They aren't alone, with other shelters downtown, like Degage Ministries, Family Promise, and AYA Youth Collective, are all experiencing the same issue.
"All agencies are seeing an increase in the number of people that they're serving and a decrease in funding that's coming through," says Goodstal.
So as winter is seemingly finally here, they're putting out the call.
Your help is needed.
"It takes the whole community to solve this community-wide issue," says Goodstal.
First off, volunteers are needed because staff is too low and stretched too thin.
"When we look at how many people that we can take in every night, it's based on our staffing versus guest ratio," says Goodstal. "So what that means for us is that it's one staff per 50 guests."
Donations of both cash and other supplies are also always needed. Mel Trotter held a coat drive around Thanksgiving, but for many, warm clothing has been out of mind.
"It's kind of hard because this is so unseasonably warm for West Michigan," says Goodstal.
But the shelter of course doesn't expect that trend to continue.
"Hand warmers, warm socks, gloves, hats, you know, coats and things like that," says Goodstal. "We're gonna need those."
If you'd like to donate or volunteer at a shelter downtown, you can find more information at each of these links:
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