By JOE MURCHISON
The organizers of the Laurel Winter Shelter program are looking for volunteers to support unhoused people on nights from Jan. 5 through March 31.
Phillip Ott is president of Taking Care of Our Neighbors, the nonprofit that runs the program. Ott noted that the shelter will be located in the city’s new Craig A, Moe Multiservice Center at 204 Fort Meade Road, next to Home Depot. Guests will be admitted at 7:30 p.m. every evening and will be required to check out by 8 a.m.
Ott said that the new location will significantly simplify volunteers’ responsibilities. For decades before the COVID-19 pandemic, the shelter rotated among more than a dozen congregations, with each hosting guests for a week. Cots and supplies had to be transported from one location to the next, and congregations set up sleeping rooms in their facilities and supplied meals.
The Multiservice Center has one large room that can accommodate up to 20 men; a smaller room offers shelter for up to eight women. FISH of Laurel, which operates the Elizabeth House food kitchen, will use a large kitchen at the center to prepare meals for the guests.
Ott said three to five volunteers are needed each night: two to check in and oversee guests from 7:30 to 10 p.m., and three to stay from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. That equals 420 volunteer spots that need filling.
So far, Ott confirmed that 15 congregations have stepped up to help, and some of those will provide enough volunteers to staff the shelter for one week.
Individuals and congregations interested in volunteering can email LWSboard@groups.io for more information.
Ott noted that Laurel had a congregation-centered winter shelter from the late 1980s to 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unhoused people from throughout Prince George’s County were sheltered for three winters at a Beltsville motel. Shelters at the hotel were underwritten by a federal grant, and guests supervised by the nonprofit Community Crisis Services Inc.
Taking Care of Our Neighbors stepped in last year, as the federal funding ended. The nonprofit organized a two-month shelter located at the city’s Lakehouse at Granville Gude Park. “The full Laurel Winter Shelter hasn’t swung back into full operation till this season,” Ott said.