GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) -- St John's Homeless Shelter is expanding its emergency shelter services. Growing concerns about the global pandemic of the Covid-19 coronavirus St. John's will begin operating two 24-hour shelter sites.
The first will be at the St John's Shelter, located at 411 St John Street in Green Bay and the other at a downtown area church.
The effort is to help provide continuous care of those vulnerable adults who would otherwise be on the streets during this health crisis.
St. John representatives say by operating two emergency shelter sites, they will be able to create smaller groups to help promote social distancing in an effort to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
In order to expand shelter services they will temporarily close daytime centers; the Micah Center and Wellspring.
St. John's Shelter posted the following statement in response to those wanting to help those in need in our community:
"We know that many community members are asking what they can do to help, and we do need the community’s support now more than ever as we continue to meet a growing need in a time of crisis. Meals and Food Donations: We are in immediate need for partnerships and donations to help meet our meal needs. Due to the COVID-19 virus, we have seen a decline in meal teams able to provide dinners to our shelter guests. This combined with the additional shelter site we will be opening on Wednesday, necessitates an urgent call to our community for support to supplement the need for meals. We are looking to help a local restaurant or business who may be struggling in this time of economic decline by raising funds to cover costs for them to provide food nightly for us to serve our guests. Businesses interested in being part of the solution should contact us at their earliest convenience about a possible partnership. Those looking to donate to help cover food costs should go to the St. John's website. Transportation Needs: Due to the closing of the transit system in Green Bay, many of our guests with jobs are suddenly unable to get to work, so we are asking for community members who are able to donate to help get guests to work to reach out to us at info@sjehs.org. This is an immediate need. Up-to-Date Communications: As an organization, we recognize that this is a fluid situation, and we will provide additional updates as they arise. Current updates will be posted to our dedicated webpage.
Basic Donation Needs: St. John’s will be limiting the donations we accept.
For community members looking to help, donations can still be brought to St. John’s Homeless Shelter, but we ask that the community only bring the items of immediate need indicated below.
Community members looking to donate can also call ahead to :
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizer (at least 60% alcohol)
• Disinfectant wipes and bleach
• Masks
• Gloves
• Toilet paper
• Pre-packaged food
• Paper products (plates, cups, napkins, etc.)
We are incredibly thankful for the community support we have received and for the partnership that allows us to continue to serve our homeless brothers and sisters.
Support from our Green Bay community is crucial at this time, and we know that in a time of crisis such as this, we see the very best our community has to give. Visit this webpage for more information and ways to help: www.stjohnhomelessshelter.org/covid19."
