Plans for William’s House of Hope progressing

ANTIGO — Volunteers for an organization seeking to establish a homeless shelter in Antigo are reaching out for funds and community support.

Members of the board of directors for the organization — which calls itself “William’s House of Hope” after William DeHart, a local homeless man found dead Jan. 15 in Lake Park following a night of subzero temperatures — said they received 501C3 nonprofit status with the state as of Monday.

“I’ve been really thinking and having meetings and talking with other shelter directors and I’ve always been referring to it as a community project,” said Nicole Barron, the organization’s president and the director of the St. Lawrence Community Service Program in Wausau. “I was like, ‘No, it’s not a project, it’s a program.’ Because a project means it has a start and an end. But we’re not seeing this end. We’re going to keep this going. It’s going to be an ongoing facility with ongoing counseling, and a comprehensive, holistic approach to helping aid the unhoused population. So we’re seeing it to fruition for sure.”

Barron and other organization leaders said they are currently attempting to locate funding sources, learn about operating homeless shelters by touring facilities in neighboring communities, and gain cooperation from community leaders such as the mayor and police chief.

Barron said the group eventually hopes to construct a facility managed by at least two full-time employees.

“The facility we want to create is having a low barrier and high barrier facility. One end would be having individuals that don’t have to have a urine analysis or a breathalyzer come in. We would have a designated area for people that had past convictions that could be violent or high risk. Then we would have a wing or section that would be for families, individuals, women, children,” Barron said. “And then offering this comprehensive and holistic approach so that we’re assessing every life area and not just putting a bandaid on the situation but helping these individuals to have skill sets so they’re able to exit out and transition out of temporary housing into permanent housing and be sustainable and self-sufficient.”

William’s House of Hope also has a web site and has distributed pamphlets and collection jars for their cause around the city. To date, Barren estimates they have received $2,400 in donations.

“Just last night the Sage Sisters, on their own accord, put on a meat raffle on behalf of William’s House of Hope where they graciously got us $1,660 in donations from that raffle alone,” said Vice President Dylan Johnson. “We have been taking electronic donations as well as mailed in donations, and today I started collecting the first round of jar donations.”

Barron, Johnson, and group secretary/treasurer Sally Hull said they have already located and helped several homeless people in Antigo, including some individuals who have been referred to them by organizations like the Antigo School District, AVAIL, and the Veterans Affairs office.

“A comment we’ve heard over and over is, ‘There are no homeless in the county,’” said Johnson. “I can tell you we’ve taken on nine cases in a week now, so there definitely is a need for this. There’s more situations happening daily. That’s what we’re noticing day by day, that people are finding out now that they’re being evicted or have nowhere to go, but there’s definitely a need for our cause in this community.”

To prevent deaths from exposure to the cold like the one they believe happened to DeHart now, likewise, the group also has agreed to a voucher agreement with Motel 8 and has put together a “subzero team.”

“The goal of the subzero team since we don’t have a physical building right now is if it’s 10 degrees or below to transport people to the Rhinelander or the Wausau shelter,” Johnson said. “We have put together a team of volunteers but we are waiting on insurance before we start dispatching drivers if needed.”

Barron said she believes William’s House of Hope is a much-needed organization in the county.

“I feel like it is a population that often is overseen and unheard. It’s a concern,” Barron said. “It’s not just an individual problem. It’s a problem for the community — it should be. It’s a human right to have shelter and basic needs met and it’s not being done in Langlade County.”

Those who want more information about William’s House of Hope can go to the group’s web site, www.williams-house.org or call 715-527-8161.