Volunteers scout dark streets for homeless

On an early cold winter morning in late January, a group of five volunteers met at the Price Chapel Church near the Wendy’s and discussed a strategy for the seasonal homeless person count that place takes several times during the year. Chris, Stella, Tracy, Cortney and an employee from the USU Eastern campus who asked for anonymity. “We’ll take the Mavericks and the park area in Wellington,” one volunteer said.
As we ended the meeting the group split up and headed into different cars with three people heading into one truck, and me, Chris and the unnamed source heading into another truck. As we turned onto main street, the only car we passed was a Price City Police car who was out patrolling and assisting the program should anyone run into trouble.
While we traveled down the streets, we talked about numerous issues including our own personal backgrounds. Chris, having lived in Price the longest and the most experience with the homeless issue in the area, listed a number of issues over the years have contributed to the homelessness problem. Factors include the closure of coal mines, which puts people into a depressed state of mind after many years in the same industry, along with the building up of small infractions that people do not have the means to pay, and intergenerational poverty.
“Theres a list of systemic complexities,” the source said of the problems associated with homelessness. The loss of jobs contributes to the homeless issue as people who worked in the same industry for years do not have another skill set to fall back on after being laid off. This leads to an icreased rate of depression and suicide. According to the Utah Public Health Indicator Based Information System (IBIS), Utah has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, with a 20.8 per 100,000 Utahns having committed suicide. The stats are for the years 2012-2014.
The drug and substance abuse issue hasn’t only affected older adults, but also college students. There have been problems associated with substance abuse at the college. The source said that there was an issue with a student coming into class semi-drunk or hungover from the night before and smelling of alcohol. The student was asked to leave and did not return. But if the student had returned he or she would have been offered assistance for dealing with alcohol. That way they do not end up going down a road that could lead up to losing a job or being homeless.
As we traveled down the along with the group being in its second straight night of going out, there were no signs of anyone outside, probably due to the fact that it was five to ten degrees outside and many can find temporary shelter with friends or motels. The motels, however, do not offer discounts. On the contrary, they are a little more wary of renting to the homeless because of the history of damage done to the rooms.
The reason why there were only five volunteers was because only two from the college responded to an email that was sent out to all faculty and staff, the source said. As we continued toward the park in Wellington, there continued to be no signs of people being out so we decided to head back home, the only encounter we had was with a guy in a jeep with a camper attached in the Walmart parking lot but he declined assistance and left after we made our way into the Walmart. We made one more trip around Main Street, and headed back to Price Chapel Church ending our trip at 6:00 a.m.
The group of volunteers meets a couple of times a month during the winter and more frequently during the summer months when the homeless population is easier to count. The university employee is urging all faculty and students who are able to attend to volunteer their time with the group.