As winter roars early, JoCo homeless need more help. Meet those providing warmth, hope
On a freezing, pitch black night in December, an illuminated sign at The Branches Church in Olathe glowed with an encouraging message: “Experience the miracle of Christmas.”
The scene inside a large room at the church that night might qualify as a minor miracle. For the homeless men and women who came in out of the cold for a meal and a cot, it was a godsend.
“It’s meant so much to me to have someplace warm to be and not to have to wear six or seven coats and five or six pairs of gloves,” said 45-year-old Susan Goodsell-Williams, who has been homeless since she got out of jail in June, spending much of that time living out of her truck.
Doug Hilton, 52, who has been living under a nearby bridge for several months, was equally appreciative.
“This is a wonderful shelter,” Hilton said. “These are very good people and a good organization that really tries to help you out.”
The emergency shelter, called Project 1020, is unusual in that it’s run entirely by a small group of volunteers trying to respond to an unmet need in the most prosperous county in Kansas. For the past three winters, shelter co-founders Barb McEver and Dean Askeland and other dedicated helpers have provided a cold-weather refuge for homeless Johnson County adults.
The name refers to their original intention of helping 10 people on nights when temperatures dropped below 21 degrees. They operated 34 nights last winter at a different church and averaged 20 guests each time.
But this season, the program is even more ambitious. They opened the night of the blizzard, Nov. 25, and plan to provide shelter every night, from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m., until April 1.
They have also bought a building west of downtown Olathe that they hope to turn into a permanent shelter. But zoning and other permitting issues have delayed that facility’s opening, so The Branches Church is the location for now.
Johnson County has emergency and short-term shelters for families with children. And the Johnson County Interfaith Hospitality Network, an intervention program that gets assistance from 36 congregations, has some spaces for single homeless women.
But McEver, whose family co-owns Olathe Ford, and Askeland, who retired after years as the Jackson County juvenile court services director, were haunted by the single adults they saw in Walmart parking lots, camping in tents, sleeping on mattresses by dumpsters or hanging out in all-night diners.
“We are a shelter for men and women experiencing homelessness who don’t have minor children,” McEver said. “There isn’t much for women out there, and there’s nothing for men in Johnson County. They send you to City Union Mission or someplace downtown.”
She said it’s time for Johnson County to step up and take care of its own, instead of relying on Kansas City.
The need was highlighted in January when a count showed 168 homeless individuals in Johnson County, up from 130 in 2017.
The plan this winter was to open Dec. 1, but McEver woke up to horrible weather on Nov. 25 and knew she had to do something. The Branches Church, 13020 S. Blackbob Road, had just the day before agreed to house the shelter this winter in a large gym-type room. So she asked church officials if they could open early.
“They said, ‘Yes you need to. It’s going to get really bad out,’” McEver recalled.
As snow blanketed the ground and temperatures plunged, the shelter housed eight people that first frigid night. Since word has spread, the numbers have grown to 20 or more each night.
McEver and Askeland say the program is raising awareness among county social service agencies, churches and local governments that people are struggling. And as winter weather has arrived early and fiercely, the urgency appears more profound.
“I’m really thinking this winter, our numbers are going to go up and up and up,” McEver said. “I’m meeting new people every day that are homeless and don’t have anywhere to go.”
Project 1020 is getting by with a skeleton crew of volunteers for now, and churches and individuals are helping with the nightly meals. But the group is appealing for more help, with information available at www.project1020.com.
Warmth and hospitality
Even before 7 p.m. on a recent night, a young man and woman needing shelter showed up at Project 1020. Askeland was there to greet them, while McEver set out in a van to pick people up at the downtown Olathe library, at a nearby McDonald’s and a Hen House, and from the Center of Grace outreach center.
Inside the room, each person staked out a cot. It was a mix of men and women, young adult and middle aged, black and white. Some went to sleep immediately while others chatted quietly. Hilton stepped outside for a quick smoke break. Goodsell-Williams drew vibrant pictures in a coloring book.
A 41-year-old man named Keith, who declined to give his last name, arrived to stay the night. He said his wife died of cancer last year and after that he lost his home and was living out of his truck. He works full time and overtime at Taco Bell but is still homeless. He had gotten to know McEver, who takes him to his Johnson County mental health appointments, makes sure he takes his medication and is trying to help him find permanent housing.
“Barb has kept me sane,” he said. “Barb is my best friend. For real.”
Askeland said the shelter serves different needs. Some people have lost jobs or a spouse and just need help to get back on their feet. The majority have addiction or mental health problems and a history of family dysfunction.
“But they can be helped if you connect them to the right resources,” he said, adding that McEver spends a lot of her time doing that as a kind of volunteer caseworker. In recent years, she’s also helped eight or nine people find permanent homes.
At the shelter, Askeland and McEver so far are providing supervision every night from 7 p.m. until around 9:30 p.m. They have some volunteers signed up for the 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. shift but really need help from 1 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. Askeland admits that’s likely a tough volunteer shift to fill.
For now, the shelter is usually supervised from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. by Jim and Jennifer Schmidt, of Lenexa. They both quit their jobs late last year — he from Aristocrat Motors and she from a career working with developmentally-disabled adults — and now volunteer full time for Project 1020 and for the Uplift Organization, which serves the homeless in Kansas City and Wyandotte County.
“It’s been the trajectory of our lives,’ Jim Schmidt said. “We have a calling for building relationships with people as opposed to just serving them.”
He’s discovered that homelessness usually reflects the “catastrophic loss of family.”
“These people are disconnected from any kind of family,” he said. “That’s what we try to re-establish, some kind of community.”
Schmidt is recruiting volunteers to help supervise the shelter, especially overnight, and also helps to organize churches and families that will provide the nightly meals. He said volunteers are starting to accumulate, but he could use more churches that can commit to a regular monthly meal, instead of intermittently.
Permanent facility
The ultimate goal of Project 1020’s leaders is to establish a permanent shelter in Johnson County. To that end, this summer they bought the former Masonic Lodge at 725 W. Park St. in Olathe, with the understanding from city officials that it could be used as a shelter.
But recently, they learned from the city that they will need a rezoning and special use permit, which requires a public hearing and city council approval. That will likely delay the opening for several months.
The city says it supports the shelter concept but needs to make sure the building has the necessary sprinklers and life safety features and meets neighborhood planning requirements.
“I don’t think anyone would argue the need in Johnson County and the metro area,” said city spokeswoman Erin Vader. “It’s a balance between making sure the interests of those sheltering and providing shelter align with the interests of the neighborhood. And that it’s the right use and the right fit.”
Mark Wassom, chief Olathe building official, said an application has been filed for a building permit to make the needed improvements, and the city will work with the shelter group on those plans and on the rezoning.
McEver said the group is working hard to meet the city’s requirements. “We’re in the process of trying to get that” she said. “That’s the main reason we’re here and not in the building we bought.”
She said the group is hopeful of reaching its goal, but it will require city and community support.
“Our hope is, by sometime in 2019, to become a year-round shelter,” she said. “We’ll have to see how it goes.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 5:30 AM.
