Boulder – Years ago, when Mick lived in a home just blocks from the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, he would think to himself how fortunate he was not to have to go there for help.
But last year, after a series of financial and legal troubles, Mick found himself wandering around downtown Boulder with nothing in his pockets and nowhere to go.
“It was February, and it was cold, and I’d never been out on the streets before,” he said.
He asked a man if he knew of a place to stay, and the man took him to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless. Mick got one of the last beds there.
“I was just lucky that night to get the bed,” he said.
Now, Mick is in the shelter’s transitional program, living at the shelter, working a job, saving some money and looking forward to supporting himself again. He asked that his last name not be used because he worried the stigma of homelessness could hamper his efforts to get back on his feet.
In 2005, the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless gave 885 adults – both men and women – a place to stay the night and get a couple of hot meals. In total, the shelter provided 28,958 bed nights for people in need and served 62,001 meals, said Greg Harms, the shelter’s executive director.
“It’s clean, it’s safe, and it’s warm,” Harms said, looking at the rows of bunk beds in the men’s dormitory.
The transitional program allows people to work with a case manager to develop the financial and life skills they need to make it on their own. Case managers continue to work with those people after they graduate from the program and move into transitional housing around the community, which 24 people did in 2005.
In addition, the shelter collaborates on a program called Boulder County Cares, in which volunteers each night go out into Boulder and Longmont to look for people who either can’t or won’t go to the shelter.
“They do whatever they can to make sure those people make it through the night,” Harms said.
It costs more than $1 million a year for the shelter to operate, and the majority of that money comes from donations.
Last year, the Boulder Shelter received $30,000 from the Post-News Season to Share campaign, and it has applied for funding again this year.
In a community like Boulder, where the median home value is about $500,000, it is easy to overlook the presence of the poor, said Maria Harper, who volunteers at the shelter one night a week. Yet Boulder County has a poverty rate similar to that of the rest of the state, according to U.S. census statistics.
Mick said the shelter gives residents dignity and hope, and one day when Mick is on his own again, he said, he wants to volunteer at the shelter.
“I feel incredibly grateful for it every day I wake up here,” Mick said. “When I really reflect upon my life, I’m so grateful for this.”
Season to Share
Post-News Season to Share, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, gave more than $1.73 million to 56 agencies last year serving children, and people who are hungry, homeless or in need of medical care. Donations are matched 50 cents to the dollar, and 100 percent of the donations go to the charitable agencies. To contribute, please see the coupon on Page 3B, call 888-683-4483 or visit seasontoshare.com.
