Madalyn Edwards
Author
Walk Through the Door of Hope
When a young woman arrived at the doorstep of The Shepherd’s House of Mount Airy, director Jana Elliot happened to be on duty to hear her story. She had recently been in the foster care system and legally emancipated herself.
“She was really alone,” Elliot said.
After speaking with team members, the client was guided to an area where she could shower. When she returned, her whole demeanor had changed.
“I’m just so clean,” she said, “I feel so beautiful.”
Elliot burst into tears. “I hugged her and I said, ‘you are beautiful. We’re so thankful that you’re here.’”
This young woman is just one of the nearly 3,000 served by The Shepherd’s House of Mount Airy in the last 20 years. As a Continuum of Care (CoC) program, a homeless assistance program operating in compliance with guidelines set by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Shepherd’s House advocates for those currently experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity and has a capacity of 64 beds to house both unaccompanied women and families.
The organization partners with a larger group of service providers that operate in Davie, Iredell, Stokes, Surry, and Yadkin counties.
As soon as clients are welcomed into The Shepherd’s House, they are immediately connected with resources. Residents of the shelter get help with tracking down lost personal records, registering for benefits, and connecting with other services, such as mental health service providers or programs for those experiencing addiction.
Support for Stability
“A lot of our folks are carrying around a lot of trauma and a lot of guilt, you know, just a lot of different emotions that have caused their growth as an individual to be hampered,” Elliot said.
The team at the Shepherd’s House helps clients develop skills needed to get and maintain a job through various workforce development programs. No one graduates from the program without first developing a means of financial stability.
The ultimate goal is to help clients find stable housing. Trying to place clients with housing can prove to be difficult, especially with the lack of affordable housing. Clients who have no or complex renting history, can enter a temporary housing arrangement with the shelter. They pay rent based on a percentage of their income, and the shelter can provide them with a reference letter for landlords to review.
Additionally, the shelter has a street outreach program that started in November 2022 as a brick-and-mortar program. It provides resources to people who are not currently staying in the shelter.
Recently, the street outreach program has been expanded, and once a month, the team travels to areas across Surry and Stokes counties providing clients with resources so they can stay in their communities.
Elliot said she recently received a call from a client of the street outreach program letting her know that they got a job. She and her team love to see success stories like these.
“The goal for our street outreach program is to really connect those individuals that are experiencing homelessness and living on the streets with the resources that they need so that they can achieve housing and do a lot of the same case management that we’re doing with our folks in the house,” Elliot said.
Feeding the Community
Another program offered by the nonprofit is a food pantry called Helping Hands. From 2022 to 2023, the shelter saw a 48% increase in foot traffic for food pantry services. Elliot said this was partially the result the recent relocation of the pantry to a more visible and accessible location, and partly because of the rising costs of living in the area.
“If we can prevent someone at the point that they’re first starting to experience some food insecurity from moving further into crisis, then often we can prevent them from becoming a client of the shelter,” Elliot said.
Toward that end, The Shepherd’s House teamed up with Second Harvest Food Bank to offer the Pantry Garden. This program educates clients on how to grow their own food in smaller spaces, offering options for fresh and healthy produce.
“We know that our food pantry is located in a county that has seven identified food deserts,” Elliot explained. “Three of those designations are in the USDA’s top food deserts in the nation, and so we have to really be very thoughtful in the opportunities that we offer.”
Elliot said she and her team are like “squirrels” in the sense that they are always scavenging for new opportunities and programs to offer to clients, including programs focused to give stability to people outside of the shelter.
The Shepherd’s House is currently in the construction phase of building a small men’s shelter, a resource that is not available across most of the areas served by the nonprofit.
Those who wish to donate to the nonprofit can visit the shelter’s website. There are multiple donation options including direct financial donations, an Amazon wish list, and a round-up program that rounds up every purchase to the nearest dollar with the difference donated to the shelter. Additionally, adults and teens can fill out an application to volunteer on the shelter’s website. A volunteer coordinator will reach out to find the best-fit opportunity. The Shepherd’s House is located on 246 Spring Street in Mount Airy, NC.
