4 Thursday, October 17, 2024 BATTLE CREEK SHOPPER NEWS http://www.thebattlecreekshopper.com
HEALTH
Continued from Page 1
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
HILI Cookoff
Sample 14 Competitive Chilis
Cornbread & all the fixin’s
Beer & Wine
Trivia Quiz
Benefits Laundry Love Ministry
For more info go to stthomasbc.org/chilicookoff
Friday, October 25th • 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Downtown @ 16 E. Van Buren
(corner of Capital & Van Buren)The 2024 Calhoun County Connect and VA Stand Down is tomorrow, Friday,
Oct. 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. takes place at Full Blast, 35 Hamblin Street
in Battle Creek. Here, veterans collect surplus supplies including boots and
information at the 2023 event. (Shopper News file photo by Shelly Kehrle-Sulser)will be held at Full Blast at 35 W.
Hamblin Street in Battle Creek with
the opening ceremony at 8:30 a.m.,
breakfast at 9 a.m., lunch from 11
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and ending at 1
p.m.
Last year, there were 344 partici-
pants, said event committee member
Robert Elchert, executive director of
the city’s day shelter, the SHARE
Center, located at 120 Grove Street.
“Half of then were seniors over
60,” said Elchert, who is a member
of the Calhoun County Continuum
of Care, which oversees the home-
less coalition. “And, 45 percent were
veterans, 63-percent had at least one
disability, 43 percent were people of
color, 15 percent were employed and
72 percent were unemployed.”
Elchert said that while man consid-
er unhoused people to be homeless,
he says they do have a home at the
SHARE Center where they can all of
their essential needs met including
showers and laundry, three meals a
day, housing assistance, shelter and
more.
“It’s going to be your near home-
less and homeless populations,” said
Elchert of those who typically attend
the annual health fair. “And many of
the people that we see are people that
we see every day down here at the
SHARE center anyway. And so we
know that they’re chronically home-less.”
He explained that the majority of
people who find themselves with no
home are homeless for less than a
month
“And that’s, I’m going to say,
probably around 70 percent,” said
Elchert. “Then there’s another 20
percent that may be homeless for less
than a year, more than a month, but
less than a year. And then there’s the
10 percent that we see all the time
here at the SHARE Center, which
are the chronically homeless people
who have been homeless for more
than a year and have significant bar-
riers, like mental health or an addic-
tion issue or both, or a disability or
any number of things that would be
a major barrier toward getting into
housing.”
At the VA Stand Down, held at the
same time by the VASH (Veterans
Affairs Supportive Housing) pro-
gram through the Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, veterans will be able
to access Health Care for Homeless
Veterans, Veterans Justice, Buddy
to Buddy, Transitional Housing, sur-
plus items, peer support, Vet to Vet,
Transition Care Services, Vocational
Rehabilitation, Supportive Services
for Veteran Families, VA Nutrition
Services and more.
At the community services side
of the event, the public can access
information and assistance related
to utilities, education, housing, legal
aide, dental services, domestic vio-lence, sexual assault, human traf-
ficking, parent groups, employment,
senior services, transportation, spiri-
tual counseling, healthcare enroll-
ment, medical, behavioral health and
substance use disorders.
At the SHARE Center, clients can
use the facility daily but overnight
stays are not provided unless there
is a weather emergency and an over-
night warming shelter is needed (vol-
unteer dependent.)
The shower services are the newest
feature of the shelter.
“Since we opened the two show-
ers in May, 130 people have taken
805 showers,” said Elchert. “We
will be expanding the hours soon,
but currently are limited by staffing
constraints.”
Showers are offered Monday
through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“This comes out to 10 showers a
day or 40 a week,” he said. “That is
the number we got, so that let’s us
know that every shower slot on every
day has been filled.”
FireKeepers Casino Hotel and
Event Center donated the towels,
washcloths, and soap dispensers.
“They also donate bottled water
to the Homeless Health Fair every
year,” said Elchert.
Overnight shelter is provided in
Battle Creek by the Haven of Rest
Ministries, which will have a pres-
ence at the homeless health fair,
along with SAFE Place, Charitable
Union, Battle Creek Pride, Grace
Health and many more local agen-
cies.
In an unrelated matter, the SHARE
Center is the beneficiary of a
Saturday, Nov. 9 Carnival Food Fest
from 3-7 p.m. at Kellogg Arena in
downtown Battle Creek featuring
more than 20 vendors serving classic
carnival treats.
There will also be kids games,
raffle, Karaoke, face-painting and
a bounce house. Admission is $5,
children 12 and under get in free.
Tickets are available at kelloggarena.
com/event/carnival-food-fest-2024/
For questions, call the SHARE
Center at (269) 964-8133.$$$$$$$$$$
$
200 -
$
10,
I BUY All Cars & Trucks
Call Me First! I Pay More!
269-223-