Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 8, 1991 TAG: 9104080090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: GALAX LENGTH: Medium
The Hostel of the Good Shepherd, which began in two rooms in an Episcopal church and moved into its own building on Center Street in early 1990, has taken in homeless people from Galax and surrounding counties - more than 300 of them in the past three years.
But when the shelter's conditional-use permit came up for routine renewal at the March 26 commission meeting, a few neighboring residents showed up to complain.
The complaints included too many vehicles cluttering parking places, foul language, pranks like doorbells being rung in the early morning and a wallet being swiped from an unlocked car.
The commission voted 2-2, with the fifth member abstaining and two more not present, on a motion not to renew the permit. It decided to reconsider the matter Tuesday at 7 p.m.
"I think, if they just give us a chance, they'll find out that we're just as normal as anybody else," said Sandy Vipperman, a Mount Rogers Mental Health staff member on loan to the center as its director since late 1989.
She has tried to prove that assertion by inviting neighbors to open houses at the shelter, even going so far as to hand-deliver the invitations. But, she said, there are some who simply will not come even for a look.
"I don't want to alienate these people. I understand their feelings. I have children," she said.
"We do have some neighbors that like us."
A stay at the shelter is no free ride. Residents all must be awake by 8 a.m. and clean their rooms. Other chores are posted on Vipperman's office door, including kitchen and laundry duties.
The shelter was designed as a transitional place to stay until people can get back on their feet. There is much emphasis on classes, she said. "They're taught how to live on what food stamps they get, how to manage money."
Background checks are made on all new clients with Social Security and police agencies in the areas they came from. References are requested. Alcohol and drugs are banned, and anyone found with either is expelled.
Residents with histories of drug or alcohol abuse must sign a contract to complete a treatment program, monitored by the staff.
"We haven't had any major problems," Vipperman said. "They become family. It's important to them that they are family, because they don't have any other family. . . . If I'm afraid of 'em, I'm not going to have them here, because I have to be here.,"
"We've had a lot of people say it's just ungodly to think of shutting it down," she said. The only other shelters in Southwest Virginia are in Roanoke and Tazewell. Work is under way on one in Wytheville.
Some shelter residents may have lost their homes to fire. Others include single parents who are victims of spouse abuse or who have been turned out by their families. Sometimes they are pregnant; the shelter offers classes in parenting skills and Lamaze childbirth techniques.
"We're able to place most of our people. . . . We've worked up good contacts and, when they have an opening, they call us," Vipperman said. "We place 93 percent in permanent living quarters, and we follow them for six months after they leave here."
The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, which housed the original two-room shelter, bought the nearby house for $35,000 and equipped it with the fire escape, alarm system and other required items. The First United Methodist Church has supported the shelter with contributions and food supplies from its community pantry.
The Rev. Stanrod T. Carmichael, pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, said the contributions show more eloquently than words that Methodists believe they and Episcopalians can share common ministries, "at least in Galax," to help those overcoming adversities.
But there are others who have the "not in my back yard" attitude, he said.
The shelter has gotten support from the city's United Way. All its furniture has been donated, mostly by some of Galax's many furniture-manufacturing plants.
"Most of the businesses work wonderfully with us," Vipperman said. "Everything comes in, it seems, when you need it the most. We don't have to go out and beg for things."
But they are begging now, she said, to stay open, and not just on a conditional permit. "We want a permanent permit," she said.
by CNB