SALYERSVILLE – The Lighthouse Shelter group made great strides this week in starting a homeless shelter in Magoffin County, securing a location for the shelter and their office.
Rick Whitley, who started the group just last year in hopes of getting people together to discuss starting a homeless shelter here, said the community has been outstanding, taking this from just an idea to an actual opportunity they are able to accomplish.
Now with keys to the building, he said they will have six rooms that will contain three beds per room, as well as an office space.
As the group moves forward, setting up electricity, water, cleaning and prepping the space, and more, the biggest thing they need at this time is monetary donations.
“We need monetary donations to offset the bills we’re going to have,” Whitley said.
While they’ve secured donations and revenue streams from many local people, groups and churches, they still don’t have enough money to cover all of their costs, especially to pay to have someone at the location for 24 hours a day.
While the Lighthouse Shelter technically didn’t have a location during the recent snow and dangerously cold weather, they still worked to help the community, manning the county’s community center warming shelter at night, providing clothing, air mattresses, blankets, food – anything people could need in a disaster – all donated.
“I’m thankful we were able to help out and hopefully we made a difference,” Whitley said.
Mattie Rowe and April Cantrell, also with the group, loaded up supplies and meals and delivered them where homeless people stay in the community, distributing 35 to 50 meals at a time during the recent weather, with Whitley noting they knew of people still staying under bridges at the end of last week as temperatures plummeted to single digits.
“People really don’t realize how big the homeless population is here in Magoffin County,” Whitley said. “I don’t know where they’re all from, but they’re here now.”
He said the homeless population is estimated from 25 to 30 people at any one time in Magoffin County, but they have found that number to be too low, going by the number of dinners they’ve handed out.
“We were told there were seven people staying in a building, so we loaded up seven meals and Mattie took them over there, but here she came rushing back saying, ‘Load me up, again!’ after finding out that instead of seven people sheltering in that location, 20 people were staying there.
When the new Salyersville homeless shelter opens in the near future, he said they will be able to house up to 18 people at a time. He said they will be able to provide food, clothing and shelter for a limited amount of time, and they have counselors available to come in when they call.
“The good people of Magoffin County really stepped up and helped with our homeless shelter and it’s really made a difference,” Whitley said. “We’ve been able to go from just talking about it to doing it in such a short period of time. We have a steady stream of money right now to cover the building, most of the utilities and such, but not enough for employees, and we’ll need that,” Whitley said. “We have great volunteers and that works for a little while, but people get tired and stop showing up eventually.”
Whitley vowed they will see this goal through to fruition.
“We’ve been after this for a while and we’re not going to let it go,” Whitley said. “We’re going to finish it up. We’re going to have a full-fledged homeless shelter, like in the big cities, and I think we’re on the right track.”
Monetary donations to the nonprofit group Lighthouse Shelter can be made by dropping off the money/check/money order at the Citizens Bank of Kentucky located at 680 Tom Frazier Way, off of the Mountain Parkway, in Salyersville. For more information, the group meets the first Thursday of each month at 4 p.m. at the Magoffin County Public Library and all are invited to attend. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 1 at 4 p.m. at the Magoffin County Public Library. You can also follow the group on Facebook by searching “Lighthouse Shelter,” where they post updates, meeting times, and upcoming events.
The SI will continue to follow this story and report on the upcoming open house event when the date is announced.
