CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- With below freezing temperatures outside this week, Charlotte-area shelters are busier than normal. The two men’s shelters are housing more than 600 men combined, slightly more than normal, in their busiest year yet.
But they, and the Salvation Army women and children’s shelter, are also getting help from a growing number of churches and faith-based groups who are giving the homeless a place to stay.
For the last 15 years, Room in the Inn has offered church halls and other facilities to ease overcrowding at homeless shelters during the winter.
Roughly 100 groups volunteer around Charlotte to take in 12-15 people a night, and give them three meals and a bed to sleep in. About a dozen open their doors on any given night of the week, with the groups rotating their service nights.
The program helped more than 1,400 people find a place to stay outside of shelters last year.
Saturday night, 211 people took advantage of the opportunity to sleep somewhere besides a shelter or the street.
“It gives the overflow some place to go,” said Bruce Bauman, a volunteer at Urban Ministry Center, which coordinates the Room in the Inn program. “It gives 211 people that would have to be out in the elements a place to go and a warm place to stay.”
Street artist Troy Burtnick has been on and off the streets for two years in Charlotte. He has a degree in art education, but ran into trouble when he worked for a friend with a roofing business.
“Homelessness is a bad thing in Charlotte right now,” he said. “It's cold out there.”
Burtnick has landed a job and is finding a place to stay. But Saturday, he lined up at Urban Ministry for a spot at a Room in the Inn site. After checking in and passing a breathalyzer test, he boarded a bus for the Harris YMCA.
The south Charlotte YMCA branch volunteers as a Room in the Inn site every other Saturday night. This weekend, a dozen men swam, worked out, took showers, had an ice cream party, and watched a movie before settling in for the night.
“We don’t want to see folks sleep on the street, and we have 300,000 square feet here,” said Land Hite, Room in the Inn coordinator for Harris YMCA. “Why not use it to take folks in and give them a nice warm bed?”
Many of the sites also offer encouragement and counseling to the men, women, and children who stay the night. Burtnick sees the hand up as an opportunity to get back on his feet.
“If you want to get out of the position you're in, there's many people in Charlotte who want to help you,” he said. “I just want to focus on my art, get out there, and make a name for myself -- and that's starting to happen.”
Churches and other groups wishing to coordinate with the Urban Ministry Center to volunteer or donate can reach them at 704-347-0278.
