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Volunteers seek daytime coverage at warming shelter; council clarifies funding and bus-pass arrangements
Summary
A volunteer said Morgantown’s warming shelter lacks daytime staffing and could leave people exposed in cold weather; councilors said staffing requests must come from Catholic Charities and described existing reimbursement rules and transit support.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — During public comment at the Jan. 21 Morgantown City Council meeting, volunteer Stephanie Hunt urged the council to find daytime coverage for the city’s emergency warming shelter, saying the volunteer-run shelter closes daytime hours unless a volunteer is present and that people could be left outside in very cold weather.
"I spent my afternoon at the warming shelter...it is closed unless there's a volunteer. So I was up there volunteering, and it's kinda scary that if something happens to the volunteer that is there, people are now gonna be stuck outside in 12 degree weather," Hunt said, adding that volunteers asked whether Catholic Charities could receive funding to hire daytime staff. Hunt said volunteers estimated a funding figure for daytime coverage but did not specify an exact amount at the meeting.
A council member responded that any funding request for staffing would need to come from Catholic Charities directly rather than from members of the public. The council member said the city has provided reimbursement-based allocations for the warming shelter that can cover supplies such as water or blankets but not direct staffing without a formal request and appropriate documentation.
Councilors also discussed transit supports tied to shelter access. One council member explained that the county is covering the cost of bus passes for nonprofits and that the city’s program issues passes for frontline staff (for instance social workers and public safety personnel) to transport people to social services. Councilors said passes are being distributed more broadly across routes and that program administrators are working to fix problems where the shelter previously had limited access to passes.
Council staff and volunteers also reported that the public safety building’s lobby would be opened for overnight shelter on at least one night while the warming shelter was full. No formal council action was taken at the meeting; members asked staff to communicate with Catholic Charities about any formal request for funding and to continue improving bus-pass distribution to the shelter.
