PETERSBURG, Va. — A private, nonprofit organization has officially opened its men’s cold weather shelter in Petersburg, made possible by the generosity of community donors.
Reverend Neil Young of First Baptist Church is preparing for his first overnight shift at the shelter.
“I expect a lot of interaction with the group,” said Young, 69, who will spend the next 16 weeks volunteering on Monday and Tuesday nights. “This will be my first night starting overnight here.”
The shelter offers a warm place to sleep for men experiencing homelessness.
“My thing is, it could have been me,” Young said. “It could have been me, it could have been any one of us.”
Young has long supported Pat Hines, director of the Petersburg Center for Development, in her mission to open the men’s shelter.
“A lot of people look at them in the wrong way, in the sense they’re making a choice,” Young said. “But I don’t believe most of them made a choice to not have somewhere to live.”
Hines has been working tirelessly since October to reopen the shelter. Her goal is to keep the shelter open seven nights a week for 16 weeks, at a cost of $1,000 per week for staffing alone.