Kelly Kenoyer: So you opened the warming shelter in Wilmington last month for six consecutive nights. How did that go?
Jamie Lee Thompson: So it went really well, in a lot of ways. Our numbers were way, way up. Of course, there's always bumps and hiccups: there's plumbing, there's things that we have to deal with along the way. But the number of volunteers who came through, the number of donations that came through: financial and material. People came from all over the place to help and serve, including our guests who were there those nights. Overall, it was a really beautiful thing.
KK: Jamie, you said that the numbers are way up from last year. Can you explain what that looks like?
JLT: Well, the highest number back in December was I think 90. And we were up to 140 on a number of nights last month: just an exponential increase.
KK: Were you prepared for that number of people?
Meg McBride: We were prepared for about 100, was our guesstimate. We ended up having to get more cots, and every night but one night we ran out of dinner. So feeding that many people, and what we noticed is that people often want to eat seconds, we needed to do some finagling towards the end of the run and get some extra food brought in. And so we weren't expecting that. But people came through, right? We had some local caterers come through with donations, some organizations reached out that had some cots in their basement. And so it, it worked out fine.
Related: Dispatch: What I saw at Wilmington's warming shelter
KK: It's great to hear that the community is supporting the warming shelter. But what do you think is the reason that we've seen such a higher number this year than in previous years?
MM: Well, definitely a reduction in services. So I think it even goes back to to the pandemic, and just people losing jobs, the cost of housing, as well as the Salvation Army shelter closing in May, and Good Shepherd has been full for months. So people are on a waiting list. There are definitely more people outside. And so there are more people that need shelter.
KK: Can you tell me a little bit about what it costs as an organization to run the shelter? And what do you need from the community to keep this going as an emergency drop-in service?
MM: Definitely the number one thing we need is monetary donations. We got tons of supplies donated: food, snacks and soda, and blankets and clothing, and things like that. The costs to run it are definitely up with an increased number of folks. Last year, on our busiest night, we did 96 folks, and we were seeing an average in the 80s. And so we're up like 30% from last year.
KK: Is there anything else you want the people of Wilmington to know about the warming shelter and about your work with the homeless in general?
MM: I think for us what's important to say about the warming shelter is that we're literally just a couple church people that are offering a life-saving initiative, which we call triage. Like, we are just opening up a gymnasium with some cots and some blankets and some hot food, with church ladies cooking in the kitchen, just to bring people in off the street on the coldest nights.
We are not a long-term solution. We're not an emergency overnight shelter. We're not permanent. You know, we're just doing what we can with church resources, which for those of us that have marginalized congregations, like Pastor Jamie and I, we don't have funding to build or to create, you know, homeless services, like some other people in the area are. And so it's just important to keep reiterating that, that we're doing what we can. But we also recognize that so much more needs to be done.
We're meeting a small part of a great need. And what we're hoping and praying for and in conversations about is how an entire community can come together, take responsibility for what's going on in our city and in our county,v and collaborate together on all fronts so that we can seriously come up with some real solutions to help people that are living outside get off the street and into housing.
KK: Well, Meg McBride and Jamie Lee Thompson, thank you so much for being with us.
JLT: Thank you.
The Warming Shelter ILM runs out of Grace United Methodist Church at 401 Grace St., where Pastor Jamie Lee Thompson is an associate pastor.
