THE HOMELESS PERSONS STORAGE UNIT
It was the coldest night of the year. The next hours would be long and hard for those encamped on the sidewalks outside our Food Center. Despite frequent urgings to take advantage of the warmth and comfort of the Night Shelter, many would not for fear their meager belongings would disappear.
The need to provide something for the homeless to safely place their things was obvious.
In January 2008, that “something” became a reality when we teamed with the City of St. Petersburg to provide a 40-foot trailer, outfitted with racks that hold 192 bins, for homeless people to deposit and retrieve their personal belongings. It’s conveniently located just steps from our Food Center and Night Shelter.
Open four hours a day, the unit is manned by an attendant who assigns the bins---each about four-foot-square---and tracts the in/out activity on log sheets. The date of the person’s last visit is also noted. If there has been no activity for 30 days or more, the contents are removed by the City, held an additional 30 days and if still unclaimed, they are considered abandoned and discarded.
This collaborative effort has been very successful---there are rarely open bins---and those who work day jobs are grateful because without the storage unit they would again be forced to tote their belongings with them while working.
An amenity for people whose worldly possessions are so few that they can fit into a small, but safely guarded, plastic bin, that’s our Homeless Persons Storage Unit. |
