Why This Boise Homeless Shelter is in Big Trouble
Last year was a challenging year for all homeless shelters in our country. How do you keep a nonprofit facility open when Covid is spreading throughout the area? It's impossible to social distance at a homeless shelter where most folks are at their last resort. For Boise's Interfaith Sanctuary, 2021 was one of its most difficult years.
Interfaith purchased the old Salvation Army Thrift Store on State Street with hopes of moving their facilities to that location. Their move was met with strong local resistance, eventually leading to the city prohibiting them from moving in. During one of our coldest months of the year, Interfaith needs your help, now more than ever.
8 Must Have Items to Help the Homeless
As first reported by KTVB, the shelter took to Facebook asking for the community's help. The organization desperately needs sleeping bags to help keep folks warm in their heated tent outside. The facility has run out of room and is now using a tent to house twenty additional homeless individuals. You can read their entire Facebook post below.
It begs the question of whether Interfaith would be in this situation if the surrounding community did not oppose their new facility? If Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, who ran as a candidate who listens to the people, would've come up with a way to help this much-needed nonprofit organization?
Interfaith shared their thoughts on the opposition to their new facility in a Facebook Post: "The very thing that people are fighting against, which is that idea of the impacts of us being in a neighborhood, the impacts of us not being here, puts our homeless community in tents, sleeping on the street, loitering, experiencing survival issues because there is nowhere for them to go," Peterson-Stigers said. "We are the very solution they are fighting against, we are the ones that make sure that they have a safe place to be and that they have support services and that they can be there day and night. So it's really interesting that they are actually opposed to the very thing that can solve their greatest fears."
Perhaps the city of Boise can spare some of their Joe Biden surplus money to buy a few more sleeping bags for the homeless? Interfaith is asking for help, is there anyone in Boise listening?