Volunteers are needed to count St. John’s homeless population across the island on the nationwide Point-In-Time survey to be held Jan. 26. Volunteers are also needed to serve breakfast and conduct interviews from 7 a.m. to noon at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Cruz Bay.
Celia Kalousek, who is organizing the event on St. John, said what hours the volunteers will work and where they will work will be decided at the training, which will be at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at Nazareth Lutheran Church in Cruz Bay.
“We’ll determine their level of commitment,” Kalousek said.
The Point-in-Time Count is a one-day, statistically reliable, unduplicated count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals and families. It provides a snapshot of who experiences homelessness throughout the year.
“St. John needs to be included in this count because we need accurate data to determine the size and scope of homelessness in our community,” said Kalousek, who is also the director of the St. John Community Foundation.
“There is a grave misconception that the streets of St. John are paved with gold, but we all know that the majority of our residents are living paycheck-to-paycheck and some not even able to make that happen. We need proof that we need the funding, programs and services that are out there to help individuals in need,” she said.
Kalousek said the data is collected in reports used by the U.S. Congress and Housing and Urban Development to make informed funding decisions, and that it is useful to better understand the characteristics and needs of homeless people in the community.
The data collected is used for planning and program development efforts, to measure progress toward eliminating homelessness and to ensure accountability of the programs addressing the issue in the territory.
To volunteer, call Kalousek at 693-9410 or email her at celia@sjcf.org.
