WINCHESTER — Local businessman J.J. Smith recently donated $50,000 to the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS) to help the nonprofit program raise money for a permanent shelter.
Smith, the president and CEO of Valley Proteins, told WATTS he would give them $50,000 for every $100,000 the group raises toward establishing a permanent shelter, up to $200,000. WATTS received its first $50,000 check from Smith on Jan. 31.

“It’s an extraordinary blessing for WATTS to realize what he is committing to us,” said Laurel Coleman, president of the WATTS board of directors. “We are just so eternally grateful for his generosity.”

Started in 2009, WATTS provides up to 35 homeless adults with overnight shelter for a 20-week period from November to March. WATTS participants are served a hot dinner, breakfast and the option of a bagged lunch. Area churches and other groups take turns hosting the program for one week at a time. The current session ends March 28.

Coleman said that Smith reached out to her after longtime WATTS leader Marion Schottelkorb died in July. WATTS is trying to fulfill Schottelkorb’s vision of establishing a permanent shelter that can hold more people.
“I know the churches were going together and taking their turns in providing shelter in the winter,” Smith said. “And I think we as a community need a more permanent option. So I figured I could and I wanted to help with the fundraising.”

Coleman said WATTS was able to raise $100,000 through donations and several fundraising events.
WATTS Interim Executive Director Robyn Miller said the cost of a permanent shelter has not yet been determined since WATTS still needs to determine if it will need to purchase land and construct a new building or renovate an existing building.

“There are too many variables at this point,” she said. 

Coleman said that the WATTS board of directors is currently exploring all options for the new shelter and wants to ensure it has the finances to complete the project.

“Our thought is we want to make sure once we start down the path, we can go forward,” Coleman said. “We want to be able to utilize the funds properly and know that we have a significant amount to where there isn’t going to be a roadblock for us. Once we start, we want to see it through completion.”

Donations for WATTS can be made at PO Box 2936 Winchester, VA 22604 or online at watts-homelessshelter.org. For more information about WATTS contact call 540-327-5431 or email execdirector@watts-homelessshelter.org.

— Contact Josh Janney at jjanney@winchesterstar.com
Click here for the original article.

WINCHESTER — A local couple that was once homeless donated $1,000 to an organization they say helped them when they had no place to stay.

It took Wayne Daniels, 49, and Cherie Donivan, 47, about two years to save up the 10 crisp $100 bills they gave to the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter, better known as WATTS, on Wednesday night.

“It felt great,” Daniels said about making the donation. “WATTS is like a guardian angel for homeless people.”

Founded in 2009, WATTS is a local nonprofit group that provides free overnight shelter from November to March for 35 people. Area churches take turns hosting the shelter during its 20-week season.

Four years ago, Daniels and Donivan found themselves with no place to live after they were kicked out of their Berryville home because they couldn’t afford it.

“We didn’t know anything about being homeless,” Daniels said.

Initially, they received help from their church, which paid for a one-week motel stay, and from a friend who offered a room, but it was WATTS that sheltered the couple for about four months until they could get back on their feet. Since February 2017, Daniels and Donivan have been in their own apartment in Winchester. A local nonprofit group helped with their first month’s rent and deposit, and a local church donated furnishings.

Saving up $1,000 wasn’t easy for the couple, both of whom are disabled and receive disability benefits. They scrimped and saved to make the donation.

But they said it was something they wanted to do.

“I said if I ever have any money to give, I’m giving it to WATTS,” Daniels said. “When we needed help, they fed us and clothed us and gave us a warm place to sleep. They bent over backwards to help us.”

Robyn Miller, WATT’s interim executive director, said she cried when she received the donation on Wednesday night at Christ Episcopal Church on Boscawen Street, which is hosting WATTS this week.

“They’re just a wonderful success,” Miller said about Daniels and Donivan. She added that they have donated food to WATTS before and helped WATTS guests in other ways.

Miller said the $1,000 from the couple will be “used to help shelter our guests, just like they were sheltered.”

It costs $30 a night to shelter a WATTS guest, which includes meals and transportation to and from the host site, according to Miller. In addition to the 20 faith-based groups that host WATTS, it takes another 50 partner organizations to make the program work, she said.

Miller declined to give the group’s annual operating budget, but said, “We don’t really have a lot of money to operate on a daily basis. Most of our gifts are given to us in kind.”

— Contact Cynthia Cather Burton at cburton@winchesterstar.com
Click here for the original article.