Come in from the cold: Men’s homeless shelter opens

By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

OTTUMWA — One Christian ministry volunteer said it broke her heart to serve a meal but then have to turn freezing men out into the cold with little more than a blanket and an “I’m sorry.” That scene could change starting Monday.

The Upper Room Men’s Homeless Shelter is scheduled to open then, with up to 20 beds available for men who have nowhere else to stay.

The shelter is downtown on East Main Street, above the Ottumwa Community Outreach Ministry.

“It’s been four years in the [making],” said Yvonne Baldwin, the new director. “We got our certificate of occupancy on Tuesday.”

When the inspector handed Baldwin the “yellow piece of paper” which said the men’s shelter was fit for human habitation, Baldwin said she felt like dancing.

“It’s about time,” laughed board member Ernie Davidson, who also oversees the mission’s kitchen serving those in need. “I’ve been looking forward to this for about four-and-a-half years.”

The idea started when former director Pauline Spurgeon was at the helm. Davidson said he’s spoken to her by phone about the Monday opening of the men’s shelter.

“She’s praying for it,” Davidson said.

The shelter has limitations on how long a client may stay, and they are unable to house sex offenders or anyone under 18. But they should be able to help a lot of people who need it, Baldwin said. Ottumwa has places that can assist a woman who is homeless, but this will be the town’s only shelter for men.

“It’s been a hard road, even financially, but we’ve been blessed because [the money is] there,” Davidson said.

At those times the money ran out, they had to ask for people to pound nails for free.

“We’ve had over 500 volunteers,” said Marty Schmidt, another board member.

Even with regulatory and funding setbacks, they had hoped construction would take about nine months, said Schmidt.

“It took [over] two years — I guess we were off by a ‘few’ months.”

And while one hard part is done, the next step could prove difficult — or at the very least, educational.

“None of us have done this before,” said Davidson. “It’s going to be a learning experience.”

There’s still some “prettying up” needing to be done at the shelter, and they will need to continue fundraising, said Baldwin.

“Now utilities are going to cost more, we’ll need more food... more of everything,” she said.

Especially in this economy.

“In October, we served 1,100 meals, and the numbers keep increasing.”

The shelter and the ministry kitchen, which serve lunch and supper to anyone who would like a meal, was locked up Friday evening. That’s when board members were preparing Homeless for a Night at Wayside Park off of Highway 34 in Ottumwa. The event serves several functions. It raises money to run the shelter, it raises awareness of the homeless problem in Ottumwa and it shows people what it might feel like to have no place to call home.

Volunteers helped participants build a fire and put up tents. But not too many tents.

“We’ve got our box city over here,” said Baldwin, pointing to a series of large cardboard boxes. “We encourage people to bring a box to get a real idea of what it’s like.”

Homeless living in boxes — even in Ottumwa — is not a myth, she said.

“Some of them do. Earlier, they offered [ministry volunteer] Zach duct tape and he said no, because he remembers when he had to stay [on the street] during [tough times] he didn’t have any duct tape for his cardboard box.”

Zach Yeoman said he wanted to keep it as real as possible.

“You can’t use what you don’t have,” he said as he grabbed a hammer to help some participants who did want a tent.

The temperatures were expected to be a fairly moderate but still cool 47 degrees. Even at 3:30 p.m., organizers were pulling their hats on.

“People ask why we didn’t do [Homeless for a Night] in summer,” said Baldwin, “and my answer was because that’s too much like camping.”

Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.