Davis Emergency Shelter Program, Winter 2020-21
As most of you know, CBH has hosted the Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter (IRWS) for many winter seasons. This season, however, congregations in Davis, including ours, are unable to provide overnight shelter to guests who are homeless due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, IRWS will be leasing apartments in Davis to house those homeless folks who are at highest risk of COVID-19, as defined by the CDC, that is: those over the age of 65 or with underlying health conditions (respiratory, compromised immune system, other chronic diseases). Apartments will be leased for 6 months (October 12, 2020 through March 31, 2021). Each apartment will house up to 2 homeless individuals.
The new apartment program is being called the Davis Emergency Shelter Program (DESP). Each participating congregation is being asked to “adopt” one or two apartments by donating furniture, kitchen items, bedding, and other household necessities.
IRWS created a Google document that lists apartment furnishings and other needs for each apartment. You can access it by clicking the following link: Congregations Donations/Volunteers. Note that there are multiple tabs at the bottom. IRWS staff will be filling in this spreadsheet as they receive donations or notification from congregations about what they have collected. This will allow us all to see what is most needed.
If you would like to purchase needed items and donate them, please see the sample Ikea shopping list to be used as a guide. These items are only suggestions and folks should feel free to purchase alternate items and shop at other stores if they so desire. Used mattresses are NOT being accepted at this time. However, if you feel so inclined, a donation of approximately $85 would be sufficient to purchase one twin-size mattress that would work well for the program, similar to this one.
Lastly, volunteers are needed to help with moving and collecting donations. There will be further volunteer opportunities in the future as well. If you have any of these items to donate, if you would like to contribute to the cost of purchasing new mattresses, or if you can volunteer to help move and/or collect furniture, please contact Shoshana Zatz at shoshanazatz@sbcglobal.net.
