Country School students donate to TIS

Published: Thursday, March 5, 2009 8:41 AM CST

EASTON Second graders at The Country School in Easton have collected nearly 20 boxes of food and raised $300 for Talbot Interfaith Shelter.

Students of Emily Cranwell and Diane Klingelhofer chose TIS as their service project for the year, and have been working since the beginning of January to support Talbot County's first emergency cold weather shelter.

The students and parents recently held a Valentine's Day bake sale that raised $300 for the shelter. Classes have also been collecting breakfast and lunch food items in the classroom, and families have signed up to provide perishable foods such as milk, fruit and lunch meat. The classes have collected enough to provide at least two boxes of food to TIS each week.

Canned goods and other nonperishable foods that TIS isn't able to use have been donated to the Neighborhood Service Center in Easton, said Cranwell, who is also the TIS site coordinator for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Easton.

To support the food drive, the second graders created posters to hang inside the halls of The Country School, and are also sorting the donations by food groups, a topic they are studying this year.

TIS, which will remain open until the end of March, is also in need of monetary donations, both to expand its services in the future and meet current needs.

"All donations are being put to good use," said John Hobson, TIS program coordinator. "For example, along with The St. Vincent De Paul Society, we are supporting a family at a local motel until we have room for them at our facility or until DSS can find them housing. This was not part of our original plan, but it's very hard to turn families out into the cold once you have begun to work with them."

Pictured from left are Country School second-graders Morgan Smith, Charlotte Oxnam, Olivia Keller, Samantha Gang, Malachi Graham, Lou Britton, Henry Esterson and Eddie Quick.

Softening hard times

Faith-based group reaches out to people needing food and shelter

By COURTNEY FEROLI Assistant Community Editor

Published: Sunday, March 1, 2009 8:35 AM CST

EASTON When a family hits hard times, they sometimes have no choice but to turn to the community for help with food and shelter.

Oftentimes, families are separated in the search for a place to stay. To address the problems of those in need, and to keep more families together, Evelyn Sedlack helped create the Talbot Interfaith Shelter (TIS) Talbot County's first emergency cold-weather shelter.

"A few years ago, The Star Democrat had an article from Carlton Spitzer (who also is a Star Democrat columnist) about homeless in the region," said Sedlack, who lives in Easton. "I started getting ideas after he mentioned the Mid-Shore Mental Health System and a group called Roundtable which focuses on needs for mental illness."

Spitzer's article made Sedlack think about available sources for the homeless in addition to the Front Door Mission at Christ Church in Easton.

"Front Door is an outreach program for people in the neighborhood who need help with food, rent, finding shelter, things like that," Sedlack said. "I remember there were a few instances where single parents with children would come in, but there was no place for them to go. After that happened, I started visiting shelters in neighboring counties to see how they ran the shelters."

Due to her experience with the Front Door Mission, Sedlack brought her ideas for a shelter to the Talbot Association of Clergy and Laity (TACL) in mid-April. TACL brings together clergy and laity from different faith-based communities to address issues that affect Talbot County.

"I asked TACL if they would pass the word to other congregations about there being no homes," Sedlack said. "Once the word got out, there were a lot of interested people. I wanted the shelters to be hosted in churches and synagogues. I thought that would be the best place for it because churches want to help those in need."

Sedlack also had help from retired Catholic Deacon Terry Stackpole and his wife, Mariann. Both came up with guidelines for the shelter which began operating Jan. 5.

"Both my wife and I are members of TACL," said Terry, who is a chaplain at William Hill Manor in Easton and Memorial Hospital at Easton. "The guidelines have evolved so much, but the idea is just to make sure everyone is working together. Evelyn's idea caught our attention because Mariann and I have worked with a winter shelter program in Laurel for many years."

The Stackpoles are both overnight volunteers for TIS at Third Haven Friends Meeting in Easton, which also functions as the TIS day facility.

"With the current economic crisis more people are in need than ever," Terry said. "It's been disappointing how many people the shelter can serve right now. The original proposal called for 24, but that has been altered considerably. Hopefully the shelter will grow. This is only the first step."

So far, a total of 13 area churches are working with TIS which is open for those who have no homes, inadequate housing or no permanent address.

"It ended up that the churches who couldn't host families supported TIS with food, volunteers, clothing or monetary donations," Sedlack said. "Each shelter can only hold five people. We would like to shelter more people but we can't because of insurance reasons and fire codes. We could have more people when there's a working sprinkler system."

By request, some shelters already have extended hosting time to two weeks, but Sedlack said hours of operation are a concern. The overnight shelters at the churches are open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. TIS's day facility, Third Haven Friends Meeting, is open from 7 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.

"We need to consider an extension of shelter hours and weeks," Sedlack said. "We're working on fundraising to hire an overnight supervisor (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.). It's a difficult position to fill because someone has to be willing to work overnight and stay awake. Being able to stay open 24 hours is something we're looking forward to."

Lisa Menditch, steering committee member for TIS, said volunteers are also needed for daytime hours.

"As much as we need female overnight supervisors, we need people to work the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift," Menditch said. "When we are closed for those few hours, people don't have a lot of places to go. They can only stay at the library for so long."

TIS works closely with Social Services.

"Referrals from shelters come from Social Services," Menditch said. "They are interested in the shelter being successful."

Jackie Veeney, assistant director of the Department of Social Services in Talbot County, is thankful to have the shelter.

"Interfaith is a much-needed resource in the county," Veeney said. "It's a wonderful demonstration of the churches for helping those in need. My staff feels the same way. We finally have an in-county resource where we can keep families together. That's our whole mission at Social Services and the mission of Interfaith. We're grateful to all the committed churches."

Emily Cranwell, host leader of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Easton, thinks the TIS is more than what she expected.

"To volunteer for the shelter seemed a little intimidating at first because I didn't know what to expect," said Cranwell, a resident of Easton. "After being there, you find that it's a really rewarding and uplifting experience. Guests are incredibly grateful and gracious in a way I never expected. All the volunteers are more than helpful. I hope they are able to move forward and expand. As a second grade teacher, I was able to educate kids about the shelter with a food drive providing breakfast and lunch food for shelter guests. TIS really brings the community together."

Sedlack and Menditch hope TIS will keep growing.

"We would like to expand one day and offer more than just shelter," Menditch said. "We would like to offer hot meals, counseling and any other services that the community may need."

Sedlack already has plans for a shelter meeting with TIS committee members.

"Those involved with TIS will meet to discuss its operation in 2009 and in the future," Sedlack said. "There's a vision for expansion beyond five guests and more services will be explored at that time."

Menditch hopes TIS can help get people back on their feet.

"When I think of volunteering for the shelter, I think of Ghandi's quote, 'Be the change you want to see in the world,'" Menditch said. "It's all about creating possibilities for people. I think everyone has the ability to have an abundant life."