Commissioners recognize Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton issued a proclamation recognizing Nov. 17-23 as Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in Highland County during their Wednesday, Nov. 13 meeting.

Accepting the proclamation was administrative director Tammy Dennis of the Highland County Homeless Shelter, who spoke about the services the Shelter provides and emphasized the need for donations and resources.

“We are a 28-bed facility, the only state-recognized homeless shelter in Highland County,” Dennis said. “We foresee helping over 200 people this year. Of course, the problem everywhere is the lack of housing, so we encourage our clients not to stick just to Highland County, to look elsewhere.

“With that being said, everyone's having it difficult right now. We're using up our funds, and not much is coming in.”

During the month of November, RiverHills Bank in Milford is matching donations up to $1,000 for the shelter. The HCHS is collecting nonperishable food items for National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week starting Nov. 17, which will run through Nov. 23.

The shelter is located at 145 Homestead Avenue in Hillsboro. The shelter also accepts monetary donations, which can be done directly at the shelter’s website at https://www.highlandcountyhomelessshelter.com.

“We’re just doing the best that we can,” Dennis said. “Greg [Hawkins, executive director] will be there 15 years, I'll be there nine years, and we just keep seeing the problem each year getting worse.”

Dennis added that “this year, we've seen a lot of elderly” clients, with individuals no longer able to afford to pay rent.

“We’ve even had individuals who considered assisted living just so that when they leave, they don't live out on the street,” Dennis said. “We're seeing that we're keeping people longer than 90 days, but that's because if you have someone 78 years old, you can't morally feel good about putting them out on the street. We do try to use other options as other shelters, like veterans utilizing the veteran shelter in Pickaway County.

“It’s just another day, another struggle. It’s the same work every year, just trying to help those that we can.”

Dennis added that she and Hawkins try to use as many area resources as they can and do all they can to assist clients in finding housing, in some cases even filling out applications for individuals who cannot read or write.

“Greg and I do our due diligence, trying to make sure that they they do leave housed,” Dennis said. “Once again, with the more people that we assist, it's the harder you have to work to get those people housed.”

Daniels read the proclamation recognizing Nov. 17-23 as National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and “encouraging all citizens to recognize that many people do not have housing and need support from citizens and private, public and nonprofit service entities.”

“Thank you for the work that you’re doing,” Daniels said.

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