West Virginia is coming out of a deep freeze, but winter is far from over and cold weather and the potential for more snow lingers. Across the state, resources for those who find themselves outside or without heat are limited, but grassroots efforts are emerging to help keep neighbors safe.
For the past 15 years, every other Wednesday while school is in session, students and staff from West Virginia University’s School of Public Health go out at night onto the streets of Morgantown to offer help.
Amber Ziese is a registered nurse and an assistant professor at WVU’s School of Nursing. For eight years she has volunteered along with her students with MUSHROOM.
“MUSHROOM stands for Multidisciplinary, Unsheltered Relief Outreach of Morgantown,” Ziese said. “We just walk through downtown doing our street rounds. We just stop and see if anybody needs help. It could be medical care, we can provide first aid care, wound care. We have some over-the-counter medications, but we also carry supplies like clothing, socks and underwear.”
Ziese said the street rounds not only offer an opportunity to connect those most in need with resources, it is also a teaching opportunity for the state’s future medical professionals. Students must triage and treat those they meet using the limited resources they carry on their back, but also while trying to understand the mental burden of being unhoused.
“They’ve had really bad experiences with healthcare. Sometimes they feel like people just don’t care about them,” Ziese said. “If we have some of these students that come and talk to them, listen to their life story, how they ended up on the streets or in the position that they’re in, that not only is helping that unsheltered person, but it’s also helping make our future healthcare professionals a lot more caring and empathetic.”
Ziese said opportunities abound for those interested in helping homeless neighbors and others most at risk during cold days if hitting the streets is not an option. She said something as simple as donating clothes can make a difference in someone’s life.
Across the state, local governments have taken steps to discourage or criminalize homeless populations in populated areas. But community members are stepping up to help their neediest neighbors. From making and distributing heaters, to creating community-run warming shelters, efforts vary in investment and involvement.
Gray Buchanan is the manager of Monkey Wrench Books in downtown Morgantown. During the recent polar vortex, the bookstore decided to invite all members of the community into its space to stay warm and safe.
“We really like to have a welcoming environment for folks to just come and sit and hang and feel like they have community,’” Buchanan said. “We want people to be able to warm up because it’s terribly cold out there right now, and so giving folks a space to just feel welcome and use our bathroom without any sort of restrictions.”
For the staff at Monkey Wrench, like barista Lauren Bollin, creating a sense of community is just as important as the physical effects of their ad-hoc warming shelter. She said showing community members they are cared for can mitigate the mental health impact of homelessness and have a broader effect on the community.
“Even if you believe the people way up top don’t care about you or notice you or ultimately want the best for you, if you give to your neighbors, they will give unto you,” Bollin said. “And you can reap what you sow in a really positive way. You can sow the seeds of care.”
That rings true for artist Jacob Peters, better known as JP around Morgantown. He is originally from Knoxville and he came up to Morgantown for treatment and recovery. But after moving out of sober living, he is currently homeless.
“I’m going through homelessness right now. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without these guys,” Peters said. “I don’t want to even think of what would have happened. I would have froze death or something, because they’ve been here to save me, like, multiple times and just made me feel welcome and made me feel like I was a member of the community.”
Others in West Virginia have not been as lucky. There have been at least two cases of deaths linked to exposure this winter, although none have been confirmed as such.
Peters said he has a hard time in crowds and large groups, like in a populated shelter. Not knowing the area well, he has also struggled to access resources that have moved out of downtown Morgantown and to the top of a ridge at the edge of town. Peters said having community support downtown has been both helpful and reassuring.
“I came down here and they were like, ‘Oh, here’s a bus pass.’” he said. “They hooked me up, like, let me get warm, and even gave me a free coffee. I was like these people are awesome from the very beginning.”
Peters said that sense of belonging makes him feel like he can once again become a productive member of society.
“Everyone needs to pull their own weight in some way, shape or form, and not everyone might not be able to pull the same weight,” he said.
Community support has allowed more robust offerings to be made as well.
The Rev. Michael Atkinson is a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Clarksburg. The church has organized an overnight shelter during the winter months for four years.
“As a church, we reached out to other organizations, other churches in the community, to help with some of our homeless ministries,” Atkinson said. “For our shelter, for example, we have churches and organizations in Bridgeport, in Buckhannon and in the Clarksburg area that are actually preparing a meal, the evening meal for our guests, bringing it on site and serving it to them.”
Atkinson said that during the coldest, snowiest days at the start of January the church ended up staying open for 24 hours for several days to shelter the homeless, something that was only possible through support from neighboring churches.
“We stayed open for 24 hours at a time, for three consecutive days,” he said. “But in that process, we had worked with the Baptist Church for them to also help alleviate some of the staff and just the stress on the staff and volunteers during that time.”
Atkinson said his church opened their doors after a local mission shifted their focus to treatment and recovery during the pandemic. He said local government policy hostile towards homeless people in Clarksburg has helped to galvanize a grassroots movement to help and take action.
“People in the community recognize that these folks are individuals too, that these folks are human beings and we should not be treating human beings like dirt or trash,” Atkinson said. “We should be trying to help them achieve what it is that they desire, just like we have the opportunity to achieve what it is we desire.”
That same collaborative spirit to help is evident in all of the community efforts to address life-threatening temperatures this winter. And the words of Mr. Rogers’ mother come to mind: Look for the helpers.
