In reference to Roger Neilson’s printed web comment on “Vancouver Council Asked to OK Homelessness Proposal” (The Columbian, Dec. 16), he asks why the money is being spent on staff for extending the shelter at St. Paul Lutheran Church. We refer to this as the Winter Hospitality Overflow, or WHO, and it has been staffed for the most part by volunteers for the 16 years of its existence. Those of us who have volunteered all these years are aging out, and our coordinator is having difficulty getting overnight volunteers for the current five months. The proposal for funding is to extend the shelter use for an additional seven months per year, and the staff costs are for at least two staff per night so no one has a 12-hour shift. Our coordinator could not expect the faith and civic communities to volunteer year-round free of charge after all these years of volunteering.
This proposal is for one year to get 30 homeless men off the street at night. I’d invite Mr. Neilson to volunteer for the remainder of our season until March 30 at WHOprogram.org.
