Oct. 5—MORGANTOWN — Mark Phillips, executive director of Catholic Charities West Virginia, said activity at Grace Shelter — the former Bartlett House triage shelter at Hazel’s House of Hope — has continued to increase since CCWV reopened the facility about a month ago.
The community can see for themselves during an open house held at the shelter on October 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“We have been slowly increasing the capacity of the shelter. We are now reaching about 20 people,” Phillips told The Dominion Post. “We will continue to bring in individuals who are well suited to be guests there; to the point where we will reach close to thirty individuals in the next few weeks, I suspect. There is no tough timeline on that at this moment.”
He said the shelter is not intended as a long-term solution, but as short-term relief while an action plan can be put in place for guests.
Currently, the main method of intake is through referrals from partner agencies.
“For example, individuals who have long histories of mental illness, addictions or trauma may not be a good fit for the shelter if there is not a path we can connect them to,” Phillips said. “We don’t want to just let someone come in and sleep if we don’t think there’s a way we can help them. Of course we are flexible about this. If someone is really in a difficult situation, In these circumstances we are a Christian organization and we feel it is our duty to help as much as we can.”
While details have not yet been finalized, Phillips said CCWV is in the process of evaluating space within Hazel’s House of Hope to serve as an additional winter weather shelter. He said the agency will “probably” respond to the city of Morgantown’s call to allow agencies to operate an emergency warming room.
Aside from the shelter, CCWV operates a number of programs out of the HHH facility, including the Child Care Resource Center, WV Birth to Three, Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services, and the Emergency Financial Assistance program.
As the largest private provider of social services in the state, Phillips said the agency is prepared to expand that partnership.
Morgantown Community Resources, the nonprofit board that serves as facilitator and landlord of the HHH property, recently contacted Mills Group, which donated a preliminary site plan that includes up to 30 small warming shelters on the 10.5-acre campus.
MCR President Mark Nesselroad has said the board would be willing to provide the necessary acreage to the city at virtually no cost.
Phillips said CCWV has been involved in these conversations and is prepared to help make this happen.
“If it seems like something the city is interested in, there are other Catholic charities around the country managing properties that would like that,” he said. “We would use that expertise to see how we could help build something in Morgantown that could work for people.”
