RICHMOND, Va. -- The City of Richmond, in conjunction with the Salvation Army, opened a new homeless shelter on Friday night.
The Chamberlayne Avenue facility can provide shelter to 150 men and women.
In addition to the shelter, other organizations have been helping to support people experiencing homelessness as the city decided how it planned to allocate funds to help those in need.
George Williams and his wife, who asked not to be named, run Share the Warmth RVA out of their South Richmond living room.
Their organization collects items to turn into warming kits that they then hand out to those who spend their nights on the streets.
"We’ve both been homeless before and we know how it is," Mrs. Williams, who has experienced homelessness off and on for 20 years, said. "It’s freezing. It’s lonely. You feel like nobody sees you and nobody cares. You feel like there is no hope."
In an effort to provide some hope, the couple drives the donated warming kits into the community and delivers them to people without shelter.
"I hand it out like they are my friend. Like it is someone in my family," she said.
"There was a guy who just needed a pair of socks," Tabernacle of Praise Ministries International pastor Joe Reeves said. "I went back and gave him the bag. He was so happy to get it that he waved it in the air. He was so thankful."
Williams and his wife hope the new shelter will be the start of more being done to help the homeless.
“I have my fingers crossed but I don’t think it is enough," Williams' wife said. “We have to do more.”
The shelter will continue to accept people until it reaches the 150-person capacity.
Once it hits capacity, shelter workers will then turn to other partners for help.
This shelter will be open nightly through April at 1900 Chamberlayne Avenue in Richmond.
Home Again will operate a second-family shelter, located on 2nd Street in Richmond.
You can help support homeless services by donating tothis GoFundMe page.
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