OTTUMWA — After years of effort, the city of Ottumwa has its first men’s homeless shelter.
“The whole community has been very supportive,” said Marty Schmidt, a board member at the Ottumwa Community Outreach Ministry.
Although the shelter opened in November, the ribbon-cutting ceremony, where Schmidt addressed local officials and business leaders, was Tuesday. The shelter is located downtown on East Main Street, above the ministry.
The Upper Room Men’s Homeless Shelter has up to 20 beds available for men who have nowhere else to stay.
There had been some local options for women who needed a place to stay. Homeless men, however, have been found sleeping under a bridge or in one of Ottumwa’s parks. Former director Pauline Spurgeon, who began the movement for a shelter, once said “the lucky ones” had an automobile to sleep in.
In fact, during a Courier interview one cold day last January, a homeless man who came to the mission for lunch told Spurgeon he was pleased because a friend had let him stay the night in their car. Before that, he had taken shelter in a doghouse for several below-freezing nights.
Without a shelter, the best board members could typically do was to give the man a blanket, then send him back into the cold.
It was knowledge of situations like that, volunteers and board members say, that pushed them to get the shelter open by this winter, they said.
“We believe [a shelter] is a high need in our community,” said Schmidt. “Just to give you an idea, five men stayed here last night.”
“It’s been four years in the [making],” said Yvonne Baldwin, the new OCOM director.
The actual construction, said Schmidt, took two years — they had hoped construction would only take nine months.
“It’s about time,” said Board member Ernie Davidson. “It’s been a hard road, even financially, but we’ve been blessed because [the money is] there,”
Government estimates say around one-half of 1 percent of the Wapello County population is homeless. Baldwin estimates said 1 in 3 homeless people are armed services veterans.
Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com
Local News
Men’s homeless shelter opens
Shelter has up to 20 beds available
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