HUNDRED NIGHTS INC

The Hundred Nights Shelter provides emergency overnight shelter to people experiencing homelessness, on a year-round basis. Currently, between May 1st and October 31st there are 24 beds available, using only our own facility on Lamson St. There had also been 24 additional beds available at the United Church of Christ and at St James Episcopal Church, both in Keene, between November 1st and April 30th until 2020, when Covid 19 first appeared. The virus caused both churches to shut down their shelter operations permanently.

Covid 19 made the provision of shelter and crisis related services particularly challenging. With everything in town closed down between March, 2020 and essentially not opening up to people again until various times in 2021, our vulnerable population of people experiencing homelessness had no where else to go but the Hundred Nights Shelter and Resource Center. Our location was already busting at the seams in terms of space – and with social distancing, we had to rotate people in and out of the Resource Center on an hourly basis during 2020, so that there were not more than 10 at a time inside. Fortunately for Hundred Nights guests, both Monadnock Family Services (during 2020) and St James Church (2020 – 2022) became heroes when they offered us a much larger space to use as a Resource Center/Day Shelter, allowing up to 30 guests at a time inside. Currently the Hundred Nights Resource Center is located in the former St James Thrift Store space until our new facility is finished.

We were quite unsuccessful in our bid for several other locations with substantial space in which to provide shelter for the 24 potential guests who had been sheltered in the churches previously. Ultimately, we purchased a coach bus that had previously converted into a sleeping coach to use as a shelter starting on December 31, 2020. Thanks to an effort begun by the Cheshire County Commissioners, the bus was parked in the parking lot across from the Shelter and slept up to 12 people a night, who go into the bus at 8:30 pm, sleep until 7 am and then go to the larger Resource Center/Day Shelter space for the day. The bus was used until April 30, 2021, and then brought back to provide shelter between November 1, 2021 through April 30, 2022. This, in addition to CARES Act funding that provided 12 hotel rooms from November 15,, 2020 through the end of May, 2021 brought us back up to our goal of 48 shelter beds. On November 1, 2021 we used the same pot of funding to rent 13 hotel rooms through May 1, 2022.

The Lamson St. shelter has flame retardant vinyl curtains hanging between each set of bunk beds, and people sleep in a head to toe pattern to be as close to 6 feet apart as possible. Cleaning and sanitizing have always been a priority of Hundred Nights staff, but it has become almost an obsession these days. WE are responsible for keeping people as safe as possible during these still surreal times.

Every night people are welcomed in. A brief one-on-one intake interview is conducted, forms are filled in and copies are made of ID’s, if available. Information is distributed about local services available such as meals and food boxes, laundry, counseling, showers, clothing and other resources. People are asked if they need assistance in applying for or setting up an appointment for Medicaid, Food Stamps, Keene Human Services, SCS Programs like WIC or Fuel Assistance, housing, Safe-Link phones, eye exams and eyeglasses. There are lockers and totes that are assigned to people if they would like to store some of their belongings. If a family with children is in need of shelter the Hundred Nights staff will make every attempt to find them open beds in a Family Shelter; in the event that all Family Shelters are full, Hundred Nights used the hotel rooms to provide the family with a more private space until (if) a room opens up in a Family Shelter. At the peak of the 2021 – 2022 there were 10 families with 22 children in 12 of the hotel rooms and 1 room that was used for a staff person to supervise. Currently we only have a hotel room in which covid positive cases need to quarantine, and we have not been able to take in any new families since the beginning of May, 2022 as there is no room.

Guests are allowed into the dormitory style shelter with bunks for the night at 6:30 pm and must leave at 7 am, except for the families with children who are able to stay inside during the day. There are staff people who are awake all night at all shelter locations, including on the bus and at the hotel.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2021 there were 233 unduplicated people who received a total of 12,104 bed-nights of shelter, due to the fact that we had more beds open year round because of health and safety concerns during covid. Services were provided to a diverse group that included 156 males and 77 females, 13 Veterans, 26 children under the age of 18, 19 Youth between ages 18 and 24, and 26 people over the age of 55. 56% of the total number of guests had $0 income, while an additional 40% were at 100% of the Federal Poverty Level in terms of income.

The Open Doors Resource Center (RC) exists to connect people to one another and to the resources available in our community which they may need. It is also a safe and dry place to be between 7:00 am and 8:30 pm during inclement weather for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness. While the RC is open there is access to hot or cold beverages, daily breakfast and lunch, weekend dinners, laundry facilities with advance sign ups, a phone, fax or computer to use, a job board, a mailing address to pick up mail and use to procure an ID if needed, companionship, newspapers and books. Previous to Covid 19 many volunteers came in to hold classes, help write resumes, provide free haircuts, and hold a dental health day once a month. Personal care items such as toothbrushes & paste, shampoo & conditioner, feminine hygiene products, deodorant & soap and clothing such as coats, hats, gloves, shoes, backpacks, pants and shirts are donated and available to guests in need. Referrals are made to other agencies and programs such as The Community Kitchen, Monadnock Family Services, Cheshire and/or Keene Housing, Southwestern Community Services, Veterans Services, federal, city and town welfare officers, the Saturday lunch program and showers at the Salvation Army, etc. Assistance is provided to any RC guest to get and help fill in applications for services such as housing, security deposits and subsidies, eye exams and glasses through the Lion's Club, Food Stamps, Medicaid, Safe-Link phones and ID's. Often to get an ID, guests will first need assistance getting a birth certificate and/or social security card, which sometimes requires financial help from the Resource Center. There is also a small fund available to help with prescriptions for antibiotics. The amount of funding we spend on those items is about $8,500 per year.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2021 there were 436 unduplicated people who visited the Resource Center a total of 15,982 times. This diverse group was made up of 301 males, 135 females, 22 Veterans, 29 children under the age of 18, 30 Youth between the ages of 18 and 24, and 60 adults over the age of 55. 57% of the total number of guests had $0 income, while an additional 36% were at 100% of the Federal Poverty Level in terms of income.