MIDDLETOWN — Fifteen volunteers met at Middletown Methodist Church earlier this week to participate in the Point-in-Time count of the homeless in Middletown, Cobb and Hidden Valley Lake areas, conducted by the Lake County Continuum of Care.
According to https://www.hudexchange.info the “Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. The United States Department of Housing Urban Development (HUD) requires that Continuums of Care (CoC, which is designed to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness) conduct an annual count of people experiencing homelessness who are sheltered in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and safe havens on a single night.
Continuums of Care also must conduct a count of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness every other year (odd-numbered years). Each count is planned, coordinated, and carried out locally.
Melissa Hurley, 26, the site leader for Middletown conducted a meeting to ensure the volunteers knew what to ask and what not to ask of people who appear to be homeless, and how to approach them. She went over the survey that each volunteer received, which specific questions to ask that will help the county be eligible for funding. Questions such as: “Can you describe where you slept last night? Is this the first time you consider yourself to be homeless? Did any of the Lake County or other wildfires make you homeless?”
Hurley told the group, “Approach people kindly, don’t approach them saying ‘Are you homeless?’ Whatever they tell you, is what we write down.” Once done with the survey the volunteers were to give the person who participated in the survey a bag that included resources, socks, hygiene articles, a flashlight and batteries, gloves, a food card, hand warmers, plus other items.
She also handed out Narcan kits that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose (after giving the volunteers training on how to use the Narcan), to be handed out to any homeless person they came across.
Lake County CoC is a collection of agencies in the community who are advocating for vulnerable populations, said Hurley. The volunteers were made up of the following agencies; Sutter Lakeside, Lakeview Clinic, AmeriCorps NCCC (a full-time, residential, team-based program for young adults who travel the country and complete hands-on projects), North Coast Opportunities (NCO), Adventist Health, Lake County Public Health and community members.
The eight AmeriCorps volunteers had previously built trails in Hurricane Utah. They range from 18 to 24 years old. Mikala Williams said she is from Iowa and that they are from different areas of the country. Their group is in California until mid-April, staying at Hope City in Middletown.
Led by volunteer Louis Bennett, 60, (who until recently was homeless) a group of four AmeriCorps volunteers: Megan Fonicello, 24, Ashley Mendez, 19, Avery Comer, 19, and Max Butler, 18, headed to the park by the Senior Center to look for homeless people to speak to.
Shortly after leaving the church, the group split as Bennett suggested the four AmeriCorps go to St. Helena Creek. He couldn’t go due to just having surgery on his hip and knee.
Comer said, “I’m hoping we’ll meet someone. If we can’t find them, we can’t help them.” Fonicello agreed, “If we can see one person then perhaps we can help them. As long as we’re able to touch one person’s life then this will be worth it.”
Walking along the creek, the group observed one person’s bedding and plastic bin, but not the person. Eventually they asked a homeowner, Eric Striedieck, 75, if he knew of any homeless people in the area. He said, “We have had them here in the past but not in the wintertime.”
At the park, the group met Michael Allan Patrick, dubbed the “Mayor of the Park” by a park worker. He said, “The homeless have gone to Clearlake and Santa Rosa.” He said he became homeless after a divorce and does not have a drivers license for lack of paying his child support. He’s been homeless for 28 years. “You can’t make enough money to pull yourself out of this,” he said. When asked where he sleeps at night, he said, “If it’s dry, I’m sleeping there.”
Patrick amused the AmeriCorps volunteers with jokes. “That’s what I do. I’ve got it down – be nice.” But he also got serious and said, “I drink a lot. It’s what keeps me alive. I don’t recommend this [being homeless] for anyone.”
Back at the church, Susan Egbert a Public Health Department nurse, said the department partakes in the PIT count to make flu vaccines available. She brought 35 doses with her. Annie Horstman Petterson, a nurse from Integrated Care at Adventist Health, also participated. “My boss,” she said is involved with LCCoC.
At 26 years old, Hurley talked about what the younger generation gives her. “I find a lot of hope in the generation after me. I’m reminded of the Parkland shooting and how Emma Gonzalez had a moment of silence during her speech at a gun control rally in front of the Broward County Florida Courthouse. I’m really inspired by their awareness of the huge issues we face: climate change, gun control, to name a few. I’m constantly inspired by them,” she said as she choked up.
“For me,” said Hurley, “I want to envision a world where we have all the resources for vulnerable populations. The reason I do the PIT count is to bring awareness to the community, based on solutions.”
Jordan O’Halloran, the PIT count chair, said there were over 30 volunteers who covered Clearlake, Nice, Lucerne, Clearlake Oaks, Kelseyville, Upper Lake, and Lakeport. As of this writing, they had not calculated the total count. When asked why she became involved in the PIT count, she said, “I took this on to make the homeless heard and to get more funding to help them.”
