Katie Nurmi knows what it’s like to be homeless.
As a graduate student, Nurmi said she traveled to France for a teaching fellowship, but had not found a place to stay in advance.
For six weeks, she was homeless.
“It was rough,” she said, noting that she stayed outside, crashed in people’s apartments and for a while lived in an unheated and unfurnished apartment.
Now she volunteers and works part-time as assistant site manager with Out of the Cold, a coalition of 14 Centre County faith congregations that take turns hosting a homeless shelter from mid-October through April.
Thirteen of the congregations open their doors to help house and feed the county’s homeless overnight on two-week rotations, with a 14th church lending people to support the effort.
Maintaining the program involves “a lotta love,” Nurmi said. “I stay with it basically because it’s the right thing to do.”
The shelter is currently housed at State College Presbyterian Church on Beaver Avenue, where it will be over Christmas.
The shelter had been serving 14 to 18 people in recent days, said the Rev. Michael Ozaki, associate pastor of the church.
“During Christmas, people generally have more family willing to take them in for a short period of time,” Ozaki said.
He said, for guests who will be at the shelter on Christmas Day, the Out of the Cold board has been working with member congregations to provide gifts.
In addition, the church hosts a free community dinner from 3 to 6 p.m. on Christmas, and shelter guests will be invited to that.
VOLUNTEERS MAKE DIFFERENCE
The Out of the Cold shelter effort thrives on the work of volunteers, a minimum of 20 for every congregation that hosts the shelter, said the Rev. Monica Ouellette, pastor of St. John’s United Church of Christ in Boalsburg. Ouellette was part of the committee that organized the effort in 2011, and now is president of Out of the Cold’s board of directors.
The effort began with four congregations serving 27 guests, Ouellette said. Last year, the 14 participating congregations served 95 guests.
Cots, blankets and supplies move from congregation to congregation.
Volunteers receive 90 minutes of training based on a manual the organization developed on how to check in guests, shelter rules and dealing with issues that arise.
Ozaki said that while many volunteers get involved because they want to be supportive of their church, “they stay involved because they realize that the assumptions they might have had about a lot of homeless people weren’t true. You can help create a community.”
GROWING CONCERN
The problem of homeless has grown through the years, Ouellette said, because of economic conditions and the price of housing in Centre County. Having a job and a car does not mean someone can afford a home.
“Housing is expensive and a lot of jobs pay minimum wage,” she said. Between the two it can be “hard to live in the State College area.”
Ozaki said the guests the shelter houses vary widely. Where there are some who come back regularly each year, many others “have landed on a rough time” and need a shelter until they can get back on their feet, he said. The shelter even sees some Penn State students who temporarily find themselves without a home, he said.
Out of the Cold and the region’s other shelters, Housing Transitions, the Women’s Resource Center and the Youth Service Bureau, work together to coordinate space, Ouellette said.
The Out of the Cold shelter is open seven nights a week from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. During the day, some guests will go to Hearts for the Homeless on South Fraser Street, she said. Hearts for the Homeless provides supportive programs to homeless people and those at risk of becoming homeless.
Out of the Cold shelter guests get a hot meal prepared by volunteers, breakfast and something to take with them for lunch. Much of the food comes from the State College Food Bank, Ouellette said.
Because the shelter rotates, transportation is important. The organization provides bus tokens and taxis to help guests reach the shelter.
“The bill can be expensive,” Ouelette said, noting that donations from the congregations and the community pay for that.
Participating congregations are Calvary Church, Christian Church, Faith United Church of Christ, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Grace Lutheran Church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, St. John’s United Church of Christ, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, State College Assembly of God, State College Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, Unity Church of Jesus Christ, University Baptist and Brethren Church and University Mennonite Church.
To volunteer: Visit the Out of the Cold website, www.ootc3.org, or call Ouellette at (814) 466-7162.
To donate: Send checks to OOTC3, in care of St. John’s United Church of Christ, Box 88, Boalsburg, PA, 16827.
