Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Where I Stand — Diana Wilson: Offering a safety net

Editor's note: In August Where I Stand is written by guest columnists. Today's writer, Diana Wilson, is chairwoman of Shade Tree's board of trustees.

RESEARCH REVEALS that homelessness touches one in every three families. You probably have a friend whose family has experienced this social stigma. Even if the affected person(s) stays with family or friends, if they have lost their residence, they are in fact homeless. Many people think of the "skid-row bum" when we talk of the homeless. Although those individuals do exist, they are the minority of the homeless population.

The majority of homeless in Las Vegas and other cities in our country consists of people much like you and me. They are the mothers and fathers who were living from paycheck to paycheck until that unforeseen crisis happened, which made them unable to meet their obligations. They are the children who were attending a local school, who, after school, had no home to go to. They are the senior citizens whose medical bills have dissolved what little income or savings they had. They are citizens who experience that unexpected financial trouble that changes their lives forever.

We are fortunate to have many service providers for the homeless in our area. The concentration of those services is in downtown Las Vegas where Shade Tree provides emergency shelter for women and women with children. Shade Tree began when local citizens recognized that women and children were a growing portion of the homeless population and needed safe shelter.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church on Eastern Avenue, the first home of Shade Tree (known then as Jubilee Ministries) opened on Nov. 27, 1989. Thirty-five to 40 residents slept in the basement at night and were bused to Catholic Charities during daylight hours to access services available in that area. Lack of proper zoning permits necessitated a move a year later. The city of Las Vegas and the Junior League worked to renovate an old bicycle/furniture building on the southeast corner of Main and Owens. Shade Tree opened to clients on Dec. 21, 1990.

In the 10 years at the location, Shade Tree provided 24-hour accessible emergency service to more than 24,000 women and children. The building belonged to Catholic Charities, and when they began to plan their renovation in the mid-'90s, the trustees of the shelter knew they needed to find a new home. Over two years' work resulted in the purchase of a parcel on the southwest corner of Main and Owens.

In December 1997 Gov. Kenny Guinn, Chuck Lenzie and other officials supported a capital campaign, culminating in a generous grant of $5 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Perini Corp. constructed the new 38,000-square-foot shelter, which opened to clients on Nov. 1.

To date, Shade Tree has served approximately 200 women and children nightly, for a total of nearly 31,000! Fifty percent of our clients are children between the ages of one day and 18 years. Twenty-two percent are senior citizens. Thirty-six percent of the clients are victims of domestic violence.

Shade Tree, a nonprofit agency, still provides that 24-hour accessible emergency shelter for women and their children. This includes beds, a day shelter, case management, a children's activity center, and other services, all free of charge. Currently a client's stay is from 30 to 90 days, but soon our third floor will open. The facilities on that floor will allow clients to stay up to six months. This extended time will provide our clients with ample opportunity to work toward self-sufficiency.

What can be done to help these individuals? Through the years, people in this community have been very generous to Shade Tree. The citizens of our community have donated 51 percent of our annual budget. In our old shelter, we provided night beds for 84 clients, and our yearly budget was $400,000. In our current shelter, we can sleep 364, and our yearly budget has tripled to $1.2 million. Our needs have increased as the number of clients we serve has increased. Therefore, public support needs to keep pace with the increased number of clients we serve.

Legislatively, what can be done? It is a fact that the federal funds that provided the other 49 percent of our budget are slowly drying up. Should local entities and the state be more supportive? How can we best use our tax dollars or incentives? These are decisions made by our elected representatives.

What we need to consider is changing some of our perceptions. We need to recognize that most homeless are people like us. We need to recognize that services for homeless need to be in a centralized location because homeless do not have funds available for transportation. Outlying communities need to financially support those centralized services.

We need to provide safety nets such as job training, employment opportunities and more affordable housing throughout our communities. We need to be open-minded and search for solutions to this societal problem and recognize that these people could be our neighbors.

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