By james art 
CHESAPEAKE – City leaders allow a non -profit group to run a homeless shelter overnight.
The City Council on Tuesday approved a memorandum of an ABBA List agreement, a non -profit purpose, to immediately manage a shelter overnight using the Chesapeake Cares Resource Center in 2255 Steppingstone Square.
For more than a decade, the team of the Chesapik or Acting area has been working with the list of ABBA to serve the population of homeless people in the city by partnering with local churches to provide food, shelter and other basic needs. The grants of action on Tuesday throw a canceled license to use the city’s resources Center to shelter people overnight, from 19:00 to 7am, starting this week.
The agreement extends until January 2026 with the possibility of renewing three additional one -year terms.
The City Resource Center works all year round during regular working hours, providing access to showers, holiday services, breakfast and lunch, a place to receive mail and resources for employment and medical services. But the cast has been opening about 20 weeks a year, as a whole during the most cold months, when homelessness is the most dangerous because of the weather, said Sam Howard, who is heading to the cast.
During the winter season 2023-24, the cast provides asylum to 305 guests over 18 weeks, including 232 adults and 73 children, according to its website.
Howard said his team uses a bus to pick up stray people every night and bring them to the church hosts for dinner, a place to sleep and breakfast the next morning. Churches are usually hosted a week at a time and capacity is based on what the church can support. But Howard said the average value is about 50 or more guests a night. He also said that Cast works with Forkids, a non -profit purpose that provides similar services to children throughout the region.
Under the new agreement, the team can now house those persons in the resource center, which also allows the smaller churches to serve, although there is not enough physical space for the host.
Those who need shelter or services, or those who want to participate voluntarily through the cast, can contact Howard at [email protected] or call 757-321-9353. Other resources include:
- Hotline for residential crisis – 757-587-4202. The hours of operation are from Monday to Friday from 8am to 7pm. The hotline of the housing crisis is the starting point for anyone who is experiencing a housing crisis in the bigger roads of Hampton and needs a shelter, managing case and//// or community resources.
- Shelter for help and emergency reaction (her) – 757-485-3384. Provides leadership, advocacy and resources of affected by domestic violence, sexual violence, lurking and trafficking in human beings.
- Union mission – 757-627-8686. The Ministries of the Mission of the Union serve men, women and children without a home and without anywhere else. Women, use the inv. 331; Men, use VRA. 200.
- Divine Inspiration Outreach Inc (Dio), Program, Burfoot House – 757-410-2933. Transitional services for shelter and resources for homeless lonely women aged 18-65 years.
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, [email protected]