11/24/2006

Editorial

New Goodwill shelter will give those in need hope

It is said one can judge a community by how it takes care of those least able to care for themselves.

If that's the measure, Grand Traverse County scores high. The proof is the brand-new Goodwill Inn homeless shelter that is to open in early December.

The new shelter is bigger than the one on U.S. 31 South that Goodwill has run since 1986 — 50 beds compared to a maximum occupancy in the new building of 119.

It has accommodations for single men and women but also suite-like one- and two-bedroom units for families where they can make meals together and actually live like a family.

It has a wing called "Pete's Place” for up to nine homeless teenagers that will be run by Third Level Crisis Intervention Center. They'll get a place to stay off the streets. They'll get a bed and warm meals and someone to talk to; they'll meet other teens in similar circumstances.

There's no requirement for a town to reach out and help those who need it. In plenty of places across America people with nowhere to stay are on their own; if anything, they're considered an embarrassment.

This community knows better, largely because enough people cared back in 1979 to create a shelter for those in need. What they've learned over the years is just how narrow the line between a home and the street really is, how many people live, literally, from paycheck to paycheck.

This isn't as much about the street people so many of us think of when someone mentions the homeless as it is about people who need a port in the storm, a chance to get back on their feet. Many street people suffer from mental problems, and they certainly aren't forgotten.

The greater need is people who find themselves perpetually trying to catch up. Two-income families in which both parents earn the minimum wage find it almost impossible to come up with first- and last-moth rent and a deposit to rent an apartment. Most have no health insurance, and end up going to the emergency room if they or their children get sick, another bill they can't pay.

And there are plenty of them. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that for the week ending Nov. 18, 321,000 people filed for unemployment compensation. That's one out of every 1,000 people, and that's just one week.

Lots of people got free Thanksgiving meals Thursday and there are Christmas toy drives and adopt-a-family efforts across the region.

It's what happens after the holidays that counts, and Goodwill has been there for untold thousands for 27 years or so.

The shelter is a new chapter in an old story, but it's one that never ends.