Room At The Inn announces winter shelter will not have closing date for first time in 16 years
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
On Sunday Room At The Inn's winter shelter opened its doors and will remain open every night of the year. According to a press release, this is the first year in which there is no closing date since the shelter first opened 16 years ago.
Room At The Inn is an emergency winter shelter located in Columbia at 1509 Ashley St.
The shelter will provide a shuttle to transport people from the Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen at 702 Wilkes Blvd, in the mornings and evenings. However, the shelter encourages people to use Columbia's transit system to get to the shelter.
The shelter has relied and will continue to rely on its volunteers to help with shelter operations. Volunteers help transport people to the shelter, transport the laundry, as well as serve and help with the check-in process. At Room At The Inn, volunteers training include learning to be good listeners, serve guests, set up the space and change the laundry. Those who wish to volunteer at Room At The Inn can do so by signing up on the shelter's website.
John Trapp, the executive director of Room At The Inn is excited to have more time to train volunteers and turn them into professionals. He says that while there is no shortage for volunteers on opening day, there is still a need for them in the future.
"Being opening night a lot of people are excited so tonight we have more than enough," said Trapp. "Because we're shifting to being open all year instead of season, we believe we're gonna have less volunteers in the long run because we ask our volunteers to dig deem and donate as much time as they can."
He says that as the shelter transitions from an emergency shelter that focuses on keeping people alive, to a more transitional shelter he is hopeful to help guests get on housing lists and into services.
Nekil Johnson is among the shelter's first guests on opening night and he says that he is excited to see the outcome of the shelter. He is thankful for Trapp and his efforts to help with the homeless issue in Columbia.
"I give him credit, man, because he comes here year after year to do it, and I know he deals with a lot," said Johnson. "But I think he's incredible to continue to come back and be willing to do this for us, so I commend him on that."
According to Boone Indicators Dashboard, 336 homeless people were living in Boone County, 55 of whom were unsheltered in 2022. The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 5,883 homeless individuals in Missouri, and 30% of them are unhoused.
