Woyatan Lutheran Church searching for new location for homeless shelter

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Whereas temperatures within the Black Hills stay at lows that might show to be deadly for the homeless, they’ll quickly have one much less place to remain out of the weather, for at the least a short time.

The Wambli Ska Ministry opened a homeless shelter inside Woyatan Lutheran Church in December of 2021, particularly to assist the homeless in Fast Metropolis, a susceptible inhabitants.

However now that shelter is on the lookout for a brand new location, following a closure discover from the church as a result of insurance coverage considerations. Those that needed to serve the homeless are hoping to maintain it going.

“We simply gave them a way of hope,” mentioned Jonathan Previous Horse, the Pastor at Woyatan Luthern Church. “We don’t need to pull that rug out from beneath them. We need to make it possible for they’re nonetheless taken care of, and we’re on the lookout for any avenue of locations we are able to proceed this operation.”

The shelter holds roughly 80 beds and serves round 100 folks three meals a day and offers showers amongst different companies.

The Wambli Ska say they noticed this as extra of a band-aid to an issue of retaining the homeless out of the tough parts through the winter. They are saying the true answer lies in making it a everlasting program because it seems to be for a brand new location.

“We’re attempting to look into, so subsequent 12 months and this 12 months developing, we don’t have the identical points as now we have this 12 months with discovering a spot, so I believe long run is what we’re wanting ahead to,” mentioned Chris White Eagle, the President of the Wambli Ska Society.

The plan proper now’s to maintain the shelter open just a few extra days, till its deadline on February 28. After that, White Eagle says there may be nonetheless extra to be decided for the brand new location of the shelter.