City and county leaders met with representatives from Fishes and
Loaves and Marley Holte Dinners Thursday, taking the first step
towards making good on a promise to fight the community’s homeless
problem and possibly coming closer to establishing a homeless
shelter in the city.
Hollister – City and county leaders met with representatives from Fishes and Loaves and Marley Holte Dinners Thursday, taking the first step towards making good on a promise to fight the community’s homeless problem and possibly coming closer to establishing a homeless shelter in the city.
Hollister City Councilmen Brad Pike and Doug Emerson, Marley Holte, County Supervisor Pat Loe, and Fishes and Loaves gathered Thursday morning to kick off the newly formed homeless task force, a collaboration of local leaders and organizations.
“This meeting kind of brought all the agencies together,” said Emerson. “Really this was to bring us up to date so we’re all on the same page.”
While this was the first meeting for Emerson and Pike, Pike said the two will be attending regular Fishes and Loaves meetings twice a week.
“I think they have a really strong hold on what the need is,” he said.
The task force started formulating a plan of attack for the next year at Thursday’s meeting, according to Loe, setting up meetings and brainstorming other nonprofit and faith-based organizations to get involved. The next meeting will be on March 11 at the Board of Supervisors’ chambers at 2pm and, Loe said, and the task force may be revealing some exciting news.
“We’re hoping to have an actual location for a temporary overnight shelter for next year,” Loe said. “Hopefully by the 11th we’ll be able to get into detail on it. We’ve really come a long way.”
Holte said Friday the group had discussed using a labor camp on Southside Road for the shelter, which would operate from mid-November to mid-March.
“It won’t open this year; it’s possible we’d open it next year. But I think we’ve got something that’s going to work,” Holte said.
Marley Holte Dinners currently has 14 homeless residents signed up for free meals, and Holte estimated there are maybe 20 in the county in all.
Holte had secured a grant in hopes of setting up a shelter for the winter of 2004 at the Armory, but lost the funding when he was unable to secure the location due to resistance from the city and the Federal Aviation Administration. This year, he said, there may be another grant he can apply for to make sure the homeless aren’t left out in the cold again next winter.
“Any nonprofit is going to need some funding for insurance and the cost of running the shelter,” Holte said. The federal grant he’d like to apply for would be for several hundred thousand dollars, Holte said.
Loe, who has been working with Fishes and Loaves on her own for about a year, said the homeless task force has also made huge strides by consolidating the efforts of Hollister and San Benito County, a partnership that was rare before the new board and council were seated several months ago.
“I think it’s great that we had both the city and the county working together so closely to really be on the same page,” Loe said. “It’s really exciting. It’s so exciting to work on something positive for the community.”
Holte agreed.
“I’m kind of in heaven right now,” he said.
