MISSOULA — With the temperatures dropping and the shelter on Johnson Street now closed, officials in Missoula are working to make sure no one is out on the street at night this winter.
There's where the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative (MIC) and local government come together.
WATCH VIDEO BELOW:
When the capacity limit is reached at the Poverello Center, unhoused Missoulians still have places to spend freezing nights.
"This is our community. This is our challenge and these are our neighbors and that comes with the inherent responsibility of like, 'What are we going to do about this?' It's not someone else's job," MIC Executive Director Casey Dunning said.
The Missoula Interfaith Collaborative has eight congregations opening doors to those in need of a warm place to sleep.
"If the Poverello Center or the Family Housing Center is full and it's 10 degrees or lower, then we have drivers and transportation that go to those places, pick people up and take them to whatever congregation," Dunning explained.
Both the City of Missoula and Missoula County have given $10,000 to the effort; the majority of that funding covers on-call staff members.
“It just feels like really important," Missoula County Grants Administrator Claire Biddick said. "So glad we can support this."
The County's money comes from the Community Action Fund, a yearly allocation of tax dollars intended to help people meet basic needs.
"We look at food, shelter, emergency, the transportation, medical services. The grant is supposed to support basic needs and that this is just like a perfect fit for it," Biddick said.
Both the local governments and interfaith network want to make sure options are available for those in need of a place to go.
They see their collaboration as a way to fill the shelter gap.
"I think what's been really beautiful is if you look at the mix of organizations and folks involved in this, the nonprofits, YWCA, Family Promise, the Poverello Center, and then the congregations through MIC and then the city and county government that are like, let's figure this out," Dunning said.
