Meridian needy helped as part of homeless survey

Published 5:30 pm Friday, January 26, 2018

Angela Williams stood near Feed by Faith Friday in Meridian and flagged down a white bus, looking for a ride to another location a mile away. The vehicle took her to the Multi-County Community Service Agency where she had a haircut and lunch and left with warm socks and canned goods.

Riding a Northcrest Baptist Church bus to her destination, a spot near railroad tracks at 19th St. and 17th Ave., she discussed how she didn’t ask people for much. Williams, 41, had been homeless before moving in with her mother less than a year ago.

In exchange for food, supplies and other helpful materials, the area’s neediest residents provided something extremely valuable for nonprofit, service, government, religious, and private organizations – they provide personal information.

They filled out forms asking about living arrangements, family, mental health, and other personal questions.

This time of year, community service professionals and volunteers in Meridian, throughout the state and country conduct the point-in-time count aimed at getting a snapshot of the homeless population throughout the country. Multi-County and other partner organizations set up booths for the extreme poor in the area to gain information and supplies as part of the annual survey given in Meridian.

“These surveys help us identify our most important needs” said Marci Ann Reynolds, program director at Multi-County. “A lot of people are on the street and scared to share their information.”

While not homeless, Williams benefitted from attending the event called Homeless Connect. She had a baloney sandwich for breakfast and didn’t know if she would have had a meal if she hadn’t attended the event. She said the most valuable part of the experience was kindness people showed, how they made her smile and feel like she had worth.

“That means more than anything to me,” she said before leaving the bus for a spot at 19th St. and 17th Ave.

Instead of working on the surgery floor at Anderson Hospital Friday, nursing anesthetist Ben Shirley drove homeless and other severely impoverished people to Multi-County.

Shirley made a point to make smalltalk with passengers on the bus. He joked about his bald head as bus passengers munched on potato chips and enjoyed the ride.

In 2017, Lauderdale County reported 110 homeless residents in the point-in-time survey. Statewide, the survey reported 1,422 homeless people.

Shirley has volunteered for three years with the point in time count and believes the data underestimates homeless population in the area.

“I think it could be triple that, easy,” he said.

The survey uses the same definition for homeless as the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. It counts people living in homeless shelters, transitional housing, or places not intended for habitation, such as the streets. Displaced people staying with friends or family are not counted as homeless by HUD.

Beyond homeless people identified at Multi-County on Friday, homeless people at known encampments in the area were also counted for the survey.

Reginald Glenn, a program coordinator at nonprofit Mississippi Balance of State Continuum of Care that coordinates the point-in-time survey for 71 counties, said providing services and resources to parts of the state with the biggest needs will help reduce homelessness in the state.

“Our goal is for it to be rare and less frequently occurring,” Glenn said.

Information for on how many homeless people were counted Friday wasn’t immediately available. Glenn said the data collected would be verified and included in a report later this year.

However, the benefits for homeless people filling out forms seemed immediate for Lonnie Behan, 56, who currently resides at a local Salvation Army shelter. He learned about his high blood pressure and adult education opportunities at the Meridian Community College.

“I hope to get a GED and get HVAC training,” he said.