Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Tim Ryan Entertainment provided by Burnt Toast and Jam was pushed inside by the weather Wednesday, but that didn’t dampen the celebratory spirit as dozens turned out to commemorate the first year of operations of Sam’s House, the homeless shelter established by Shawano Area Matthew 25.
Shawano Area Matthew 25 threw an anniversary party Wednesday to celebrate its first year of operating Shawano’s only temporary homeless shelter, known as Sam’s House, and to thank community members who gave it their support.
Muffy Culhane, president of SAM 25, said there had been an “incredible outpouring” of support from the community.
“It’s been remarkable,” she said. “We had a lot of support from so many people in the community with meals and volunteering and supplies. We were just really blessed.”
SAM 25 had been working to open the shelter since 2013. It opened in November and finished its first year of operations at the end of April.
The shelter housed 58 people during its first year of operation, providing more than 500 nights of shelter and nearly 1,000 meals.
“It went really quite well,” Culhane said. “It was certainly a steep learning curve, and we learned a lot this first season. Now we are happy that we have a little chunk of time to reassess what went right and what we need to change and expand upon. So we’re working on those things.”
The shelter will look at staffing and possibly tweaking its hours, particularly in the morning, “so folks don’t need to get up so early,” Culhane said.
Under the current schedule, the shelter is open from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. from Nov. 1 to April 30.
There are still plans to eventually add a clinic, and possibly dental services, to serve people who are uninsured.
Culhane said another goal is to coordinate with other area organizations so people will be aware of and be able to take advantage of other services in the area.
She said she’s hoping to create a website that would coordinate all that information.
“We want to somehow organize all the beautiful services we have in our area so folks know where to go for help,” she said.
Culhane said there had been a few “bumps in the road” during the first year, but nothing significant.
“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to work those out,” she said. “We’ve had great help with law enforcement; the sheriff’s department and police department. We fortunately didn’t have to call on them very often. When we did, they were very helpful.”
Culhane said authorities occasionally also dropped people off at the shelter that they came across during the night.
“It was a successful, safe, good first season,” she said. “We’re very thankful.”