No more blind eyes and deaf ears

NEWBERRY — For the last week, O’Neal Street United Methodist Church’s warming shelter has been open for the homeless and struggling in Newberry. As temperatures reached below freezing, the need for a safe and warm place to sleep became undeniable. But as temperatures rise back into the 30’s and 40’s, the warming shelter doors have to close.

“We can’t do this year-round,” explained Mary Beth Heath. “We don’t have a proper facility and I hate it, but the criteria [to open the warming shelter] is 26 degrees Fahrenheit for more than one night.”

“As long as it’s in the 20’s, we’ll keep it open,” said Tracy Wise. “But when it goes up to 35 or 40…”

Although not freezing (which occurs at 32 degrees Fahrenheit), 35 to 50 degrees is cold enough for hypothermia to occur. The risk of hypothermia is higher when clothes are wet, individuals are malnourished, sick and/or have no access to proper hygiene care. For many people without homes, food, clean water and clothes become difficult to obtain due to financial struggles. These life saving items are that much harder to obtain when most homeless individuals have no forms of identification. Without any form of identification to prove one is who they say they are, such as a birth certificate or old driver’s license, getting any new form of ID is complicated.

“I take them to get their birth certificate if they don’t have one or a social security card,” Wise said. “We help them get ID because if you’re homeless, you most likely don’t have one, meaning you can’t get social security, which a lot of them need. A lot of them are eligible for disability.”

To make problems more complicated, without a form of ID, homeless individuals aren’t included in the census. This misrepresents not just the total population, but also misrepresents the total number of homeless individuals in Newberry.

“They very well can’t be on the census and won’t be accounted for. So they see on the census that there is no problem when there really is,” said Wise.

Not only is there a problem, but it’s growing nationwide, which includes Newberry. Last year the church served 9,059 plates through its Saturday lunch program. On Saturdays, between 40-80 families and 250 or more individuals were served a hot meal in a safe place to enjoy it. It’s expected they will serve more meals this year.

“I wish I could say it was going to decrease, but it’s going to go up,” said Heath. “Many of the people here are not our normal people. They’re from Georgia, they’re from Columbia, Aiken. I don’t know where our usuals are.”

The two explained that some of the people they know won’t come to the shelter with the influx of new people since many of them struggle with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, making it harder for them to trust others. Without trust, it becomes difficult to get them the help they need, especially for people like B.

“B’s blind, he’s schizophrenic. He knows his way from the park to the church and the park to the place he stays,” Wise said.

She further explained that B only takes food from her and food cooked by Mary Beth Heath. Despite having family, without proper mental health care and his struggles with mental illness, compounded by being blind, means he has a very difficult time trusting even his family. This means that interacting with and trusting strangers is a whole other world of difficult.

“It took a year for him to trust me,” Wise explained.

“If we’re not here, he won’t eat. He doesn’t care if he’s hungry, he will not eat,” added Heath.

According to a study by Mental Illness Policy Org, approximately one-third of homeless people struggle with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia may have symptoms such as disorganized thoughts, hallucinations (both visual and/or auditory) and increased paranoia. The symptoms that are associated with disorders such as schizophrenia may lead to unemployment and financial hardship, which ultimately leads to poverty and/or homelessness.

In Newberry, obtaining mental health care can be difficult. As of now, Westview Behavioral Health Services, which provides mental health services to those overcoming addiction, is unable to take new clients because they are undergoing some transitions and seeing a significant increase in clients who are struggling with substance abuse. Without the proper number of staff and resources, they cannot take any new clients. The other option in Newberry is the Newberry Mental Health Clinic, which is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Despite the complications, both Wise and Heath are dedicated to ensuring Newberry’s homeless now that they are not alone and can always find help at O’Neal Street United Methodist, even if the warming shelter is not open.

“They’re not alone and we’re not turning our backs on them no matter what. We’ll fight tooth and nail,” said Wise.

The two, with and without help depending on the case, have aided individuals with things like power bills, groceries, living spaces and overall with anything someone needs. While the warming shelter was opened, Newberry proved to be the City of Friendly Folks by donating and contributing in any way they can. Businesses and individuals provided food, coats and hygiene products. EMS, fire, police and sheriff’s departments also donated items, like sleeping cots as more people came to the warming shelter for a safe place to sleep. Additionally, Central United Methodist Church opened its showers for the homeless during the cold snap.

“When there’s a disaster and O’Neal Street is housing the homeless from the cold…we get a lot of help. We get a lot of help in a disaster,” said Wise.

But when the temperatures go above 20 degrees, or summer rolls around, the help comes to a trickle. Where hypothermia is possible in the winters, blisteringly hot, southern summers can lead to dehydration, heat exhaustion, extreme sunburns and sun poisoning. These elements have proven themselves just as lethal as the extreme cold. Because of this, O’Neal Street has begun looking for a home for the homeless, where restrictions, such as temperature criteria (which only has a cold temperature limit), could be adjusted to a more realistic standard.

“If we had a house, we’ve had people say they’d step up and help us,” Heath said.

Wise explained that the house would have a protocol, just like O’Neal Street’s warming shelter does.

“When you come in, you have three months. That gives you three months to get a job,” Wise said.

For those three months, residents of the home would not be required to pay rent. Once a job is found, rent would be set at $250 a month to ensure they have a place to sleep while also working and getting back on their feet. Having a house for them to stay in would also cut down on the rate of trespassing and vandalism by giving people a place to stay. It would also mean that the jail cells aren’t filled with people there just to get “three hots and a cot.”

“I had a man, he stopped the law and asked if they could take him to jail. They couldn’t, they had no reason to arrest him. But he wanted to go to jail because he’s cold and he’s hungry,” Wise said.

City Councilwoman Jackie Holmes explained that the city council will be forming a task force immediately. The task force will investigate homelessness in Newberry and see what is needed to address the growing issue. After looking into the issue, they will look into options, such as a house, even if it means renovating or building one.

“I will not stop until something happens in favor of those who need help,” said Holmes.

Plans don’t end there. Recently, O’Neal Street purchased a van to help take people to doctor’s appointments and to get an ID so Mary Beth Heath and Tracy Wise can stop using their personal vehicles to do so. Other plans include adding a shower to the facility, a walk-in cooler, a larger stove to help cook for the large numbers of meals served and an adult education program, that includes teaching English to those who cannot speak it. They are also applying for grants and raising funding for much-needed items. Any and all help is welcomed and donations can be made to O’Neal Street Methodist Kitchen Fund.

“It all centers around a place to do this,” Heath said.

It’s important to remember that many factors play into homelessness and it is rarely ever just one reason that results in it. These factors include mental illness, financial struggles, medical accidents and so much more. So many people in Newberry live paycheck to paycheck and often have to choose between rent and food. Without a place to stay or food or one or the other, health goes down. When health goes down, work is missed. When work is missed, the job is lost. When the job is lost, neither food nor rent can be paid. When neither food nor rent can be paid, homelessness and the hundreds of issues that come with it occur.

O’Neal Street seeks to help in the best way they can. These include hosting the food pantry and thrift store in the back, through GAAP, which relieves the stress of grocery prices and warm clothes in times of need. O’Neal Street serves a hot meal every Saturday, with the building busting at its seams with how many they feed every week and so many, both part of O’Neal and across Newberry, have done so much to help out during the cold snap.

It is also important to remember that as the cold snap comes to an end, homelessness does not. They will be here during the next cold snap. They will be here as things warm up in the spring. They will be here during the sweltering summer. They will be here next year when temperatures drop again. But Newberry can come together now, just like they have during this cold snap and for the rest of the year to make life better for everyone in Newberry and show what it means to be in the City of Friendly Folks.