Way Station

Emergency Shelter. During 2023 Way Station received two separate grants for cold weather operations. Carroll county, in which Way Station is located, is the only county in NH which has no homeless shelters. Way Station has used the 2022-23 grant and the 2023-24 grant to provide hotel stays for those clients who qualify for them. This benefit is activated during cold snaps or snow storms when individuals who are camping in the woods are most vulnerable. Although the grants cover a 3 year period, the information provided is for the 2023 timeframe only. We provided 129 hotel night stays.

Camping Supplies. For those clients who do not qualify for hotel stays, Way Station can provide a one time issue of camping supplies consisting of a cold weather tent and cold weather sleeping bags. The larger 2022-23 grant allowed us to also provide about $500 in camping equipment such as a small camp stove, cooking utensils, body warmers, and tools to help with survival. Although the grant covered the winter months, Nov 2022-April 2023, numbers presented here reflect 2023 information only

Key to the success of the mission of the Way Station is the interaction of our Client Care Coordinator (CCC) who oversees the day to day operations working directly with our homeless and housing insecure clients, ensuring their safety and coordinating with other services providers in the area. One of our objectives is not to overlap or duplicate services with these other agencies and as such refer clients to health care providers, substance abuse programs, and town welfare agencies to name a few. What we do provide and which the CCC coordinates is being a low barrier service for immediate needs. These include things such as scheduling showers, providing food appropriate to the client's living conditions, coordinating the donation and distribution of clothing and camping equipment and the purchase of items we provide to our clients at no cost. We service 35-50 clients each week.

Client transportation, alternate warming. We provide gas cards in varying denominations for clients with cars enabling them to get to jobs or appointments and warmth for those sleeping in their cars. We issued 652 gas cards to clients.

Laundry capability. Although we have washer and dryer capability at our facility, beginning during COVID our clients were not permitted to use them so we continued to issue prepaid laundry cards along with detergent for a local laundromat. This enabled sanitary living conditions and a presentable appearance for work or appointments. We provided over 255 laundry cards.

Communication.. We provide phones and phone cards to stay in contact with our clients which number from 35-50 at any given time. We check on their well being and determine what services they need. We found the clients were abusing our generosity so we have become stricter with our clients, issuing only 1 phone/year, primarily to new clients, and issuing only 3 months of phone cards, expecting them to pay for additional months. We issued 29 phones and 102 phone cards to clients in 2023.

Way Station remains affiliated with the National Organization, Circles USA. Circles provides leadership in a proven method of helping guide individuals out of poverty to thriving. Annual membership dues provide local step by step guides and local participant training to build the program so it will succeed. We are now at the phase where we are seeking grants for the operation of the program and enlisting volunteers who will act as support to those clients participating to improve their situation. Our current major challenge is in finding someone who would become a paid employee to lead the program.

Financial Assistance or Stabilization. We provide one time payments to clients in emergency situations which could mean the difference between survival or devastation. Examples include covering a security deposit for a long sought after rental apartment or replacing a car battery or providing very short term temporary housing. We assisted 3 clients in 2023.

Groceries. We coordinate with a local food pantry and deliver fresh food to an average of 10 households each week. We are now qualified to access the state food bank located in Manchester, NH. In 2023 we received 6,322 lbs of food which the food bank valued at $12,201 thereby saving the Way Station funds while providing much more food to our clients. For those clients who are couch surfing or living in their cars or camping or who just need supplemental foodstuffs we provide nonperishable items from the food bank which are eatable from the can. We had over 437 instances of providing nonperishable food in 2023.