HIGH POINT, N.C. — Staff at homeless shelters are facing more challenges keeping the homeless off the streets as temperatures drop and the omicron variant continues to spread.
West End Ministries, Inc. operates Leslie’s House in High Point. Prior to the pandemic, Executive Director Brad Bowers said the women’s shelter took in roughly 220 women a year. With COVID-19 safety protocols now in place, he said the number of women the shelter can admit has cut nearly in half.
“All of our programs really got turned upside down with COVID,” Bowers said. “Everything is running differently. We had to completely redo the way we run all our programs and the shelter got hit probably the hardest of any of them. Where we used to have 22 beds, now we have 14.”
Bowers said staffing shortages due to COVID-19 have prevented the organization from opening its Women's Winter Shelter. The Women's Winter Shelter allows West End Ministries to take in more women during the winter months when Leslie’s House is full. Despite these challenges, Bowers said the organization does its best to ensure women have a place to stay.
“We still try to make sure that we get everybody off the street,” Bowers said. “Once we get to where it’s not safe anymore, of course at that point, we will do everything we can to get them referred to agencies and get them to the agencies that can help them.”
Within the next few weeks, Bowers said the organization is hoping to have enough staff to operate its Women's Winter Shelter. If anyone in the community wants to help the shelter, call the office for details at 336-884-1105.