Before Thanksgiving, and hopefully before the snow flies, a new temporary homeless shelter is expected to open in Rochester.
The shelter will be located at 59 Ontario Street at Redeeming Word Church.
It will remain open until mid-January when the House of Mercy is scheduled to open its new shelter.
The BRIDGE Home will be based on a barrier-free, housing-first model embraced by a coalition of volunteers, churches and civic groups known as REACH (Rochester Emergency Action Committee for the Homeless).
"We're really going to focus on people who we know to be on the street, or in warehouse or abandoned buildings,” said social worker Andy Carey, who works with REACH. “We hope not to have people leave other shelters and come to the BRIDGE Home."
The Reverend Pete Peters, a spokesman for the advocacy group, says they try to create a sense of home for shelter residents. He says this concept worked well in the REACH Home on Prince Street last winter.
"It's a remarkable thing to see people cleaning dishes, sweeping floors, talking with one another. Some were sitting in corners, but they weren't doing just that. In too many corners, you see people sitting in corners in their own space. These people were engaging one another."
Reverend Peters says volunteers and community groups contribute to the shelter's success by donating and serving meals.
"I remember going in one day and one woman was so excited; she had an interview for a job, and the people around her, residents of the home, were joining in that excitement. It's that sense of shared space, shared community, and shared desire to have a new beginning that I think is most important."
The temporary shelter will have enough space for 24 men and 6 to 10 women.
Volunteers wishing to donate and serve meals at the shelter can find more information at http://reachrochesterwixsite.com/reachor on the group’s Facebook page.
