General Archives

City Council reviews proposed zoning rules for nonprofits serving the homeless

After hearing concerns last month regarding a proposed zoning ordinance amendment regulating humanitarian service facilities and the best places to locate operations of that nature, City Council on Tuesday held a first reading of a revamped ordinance that would better differentiate between service providers and homeless shelters.

The proposed ordinance update was first discussed in March, when Winchester Zoning Administrator Alfredo Gutierrez-Velasquez told the Planning Commission that a humanitarian services facility designation was needed to replace the city’s existing definition of philanthropic and charitable organizations, which he said was too broad and poorly defined.

At City Council’s meeting on April 22, representatives of several nonprofits that could be affected by the ordinance change spoke out against the amendment because they believed it inappropriately lumped together every agency that provides services to Winchester’s homeless population. Council voted to table the matter and advised Gutierrez-Velasquez to meet with the nonprofits and find a workable solution.

On May 12, Gutierrez-Velasquez said city staff sat down with representatives from shelter providers Winchester Rescue Mission and Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS), and service providers C-CAP, Knights of Columbus, Highland Food Pantry and Winchester Church of God’s Home Again Care Center.

“The nonprofits know better than we do,” Mayor Les Veach said on Tuesday. “I appreciate their input.”

After hearing the representatives’ concerns, Gutierrez-Velasquez updated the proposed zoning amendment. In addition to differentiating between homeless shelters and service providers, the measure now being considered by council:

Changes the term “philanthropic and charitable institutions” to “charitable provision centers,” which excludes on-site hygiene facilities, cafeterias and meal services.

Allows charitable provision centers that distribute free food and clothing to individuals experiencing homelessness to locate by-right in Winchester’s Central Business (B-1), Residential Business (RB-1), Highway Commercial (B-2), Commercial Industrial (CM-1) and Medical Center (MC) districts. Homeless shelters would require council’s issuance of a conditional-use permit (CUP) and be limited to the B‐2, CM‐1, MC and Limited Industrial (M-1) districts.

Allows homeless shelters to charge clients for program services.

Documents each guest’s length of stay at a homeless shelter to prove that the facility is not being used for permanent residences.

“I would support this, providing that the nonprofits and their contributions are incorporated,” Councilor Kim Herbstritt said on Tuesday.

If approved, the amended ordinance would not apply to religious institutions that provide homeless services such as food and clothing distributions as part of their mission, or the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank’s warehousing and distribution branch in Winchester.

A vote on the revised humanitarian services amendment is expected to take place at council’s next meeting on July 8.

Via The Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/city-council-reviews-proposed-zoning-rules-for-nonprofits-serving-the-homeless/article_f2cd41c4-36ad-59d1-b716-27c941a2588b.html

Cooling Center Opens in Winchester as Heat Index Nears 110 Degrees

A pop-up Cooling Center will open in Winchester this week as heat index values are projected to reach up to 110 degrees, prompting weather warnings and increased safety efforts for vulnerable populations.

The National Weather Service has issued Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories across the region as temperatures are expected to rise into the upper 90s to near 100 degrees through the week.

The added humidity will result in dangerous heat indices, creating a heightened risk of heat-related illnesses.

In response, Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS) has opened an Emergency Cooling Center at Montague United Methodist Church, located at 102 Montague Avenue in Winchester, VA.

The facility will operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday this week, providing relief for adults experiencing homelessness in need of a cool, safe space.

According to WATTS, the Cooling Center will offer air-conditioned shelter, cold drinks and snacks, access to restrooms, a shower, and phone-charging capabilities among other resources.

Open to adults ages 18 and older, the facility follows a low-barrier policy, meaning no identification, sobriety requirements, or background checks are necessary for entry. Lunch may also be offered when provided by volunteers.

WATTS staff will be available and working from the Cooling Center throughout the week.

The organization, which began in 2009, operates seasonal overnight and daytime shelters to serve adults experiencing homelessness in Winchester and surrounding areas.

WATTS also employs Transition Support Specialists who work year-round to help guests access long-term housing resources, apply for benefits, and connect with medical and recovery services.

However, the current focus remains on ensuring immediate safety during the ongoing heat wave.

Local officials are urging residents to stay indoors during peak heat hours, drink plenty of fluids, and monitor family members and neighbors who may be at higher risk due to age, health conditions, or lack of air conditioning.

Via The Winchester Gazette

Original article: https://www.thewinchestergazette.com/articles/news/cooling-center-opens-in-winchester-as-heat-index-nears-110-degrees/

Coldest Night of the Year event fills city streets to help the homeless

When most people step outside to confront winter’s cold, the first thing they want to do is go back in.

But what if they couldn’t? What if there was no place they could go to escape the elements? What if they had no choice but to sleep outside in windy, sub-freezing conditions?

Winchester’s third annual Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) event, a fundraiser for the Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS) program, gave hundreds of participants the opportunity to experience, albeit briefly, what it’s like to be homeless, vulnerable and struggling to survive.

“This is such a fantastic event and a great tradition to help those in need, and I’m honored to be a part of it,” said U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th District), who traveled from his home in Roanoke to participate in Saturday evening’s walk that began and ended at Braddock Street United Methodist Church, 115 Wolfe St. in Winchester.

“This is a great event every year and I don’t want to miss it,” added Winchester Mayor Les Veach. “It’s a good cause.”

Cline and Veach were among 611 walkers from 87 teams who traversed one of two courses — one 2 kilometers, the other 5 kilometers — that wound through Old Town, went up Amherst Street and ended back at Braddock Street United Methodist.

Thanks to sponsorships and donations, participants raised $93,826 this year for WATTS, according to data from the Coldest Night of the Year website. However, Clay Perry, vice president of WATTS’ board of directors, said on Sunday that about $7,000 in cash and check donations had not yet been counted, so the total amount raised is expected to be over $100,000, which would top last year’s total.

“This will help us fund our upcoming 2025-2026 season,” WATTS Executive Director Robyn Miller said on Saturday. “It’s used to maintain and operate the overnight shelter every night of the season.”

WATTS is a nonprofit organization that partners with area churches to provide temporary overnight shelter and hot meals to people experiencing homelessness during cold-weather months. From the first week of November to the last week of March, 35 or more people each night are transported to a participating church that agrees to operate a shelter for one week.

For the current shelter season that ends on March 29, Miller said WATTS so far has accommodated 130 people through its overnight shelter program.

WATTS also operates daytime warming and cooling centers seasonally throughout the year, offering snacks and drinks, a restroom, shower, and other resources available. Since November, Miller said the Warming Center has served 120 people.

Additionally, WATTS offers support services year-round to help its clients become independent and obtain permanent housing.

“We currently have 14 people that have already been qualified through centralized housing intake or already earn enough money to apply for housing,” Miller said on Saturday. “Our Transition Out of Homelessness program has been incredibly busy. In four months, we’ve helped 12 people get identification, two driver’s licenses, six birth certificates. Six guests found employment. We helped three guests move out of the area [to] where they had family and better opportunities … Three guests have entered drug or alcohol treatment … [and] one guest has been housed.”

The Coldest Night of the Year is an awareness initiative and fundraiser that originated in 2011 in Toronto, Canada, and expanded to the United States in 2022. To date, the event has raised more than $84 million to support homeless support initiatives in about 250 communities in North America.

WATTS started participating in 2023. For each of the three Coldest Night events held since 2023, the number of walkers in Winchester has been second-highest in the United States, eclipsed only by the number of walkers in Fredericksburg, VA. But Winchester did come out on top in terms of the number of teams who participated in Saturday’s 58 walks in the United States. The city’s 87 teams was the highest in the nation, followed by Fredericksburg with 84.

The team that brought in the most money for WATTS this year was WINCOG Cares, comprised of 20 people from the Winchester Church of God. That squad collected $6,296, followed by the general WATTS team, Walkers for WATTS, coming in second with $5,345.

To help all of the walkers in Winchester’s Coldest Night event understand why the money they raised was so crucial, one of WATTS’ clients who is currently homeless spoke and shared a bit of what it’s like living on the streets.

“We are right out there in front of life’s storms. Whoever we are and whatever we have is all we have. Dignity is our last thread,” the guest shared.

While WATTS has been overseeing cold-weather temporary, thermal shelter since November 2009, Miller said the goal is to find a permanent year-round home for the nonprofit and its clients.

“We’ve been looking hard and working with the city, trying to find a location we can all be happy with that will house at least 50 to 100 people in a real emergency and provide a safe place for more than five months a year,” she said.

But finding a permanent facility is only part of what WATTS wants to do to better serve Winchester’s homeless population. The organization is also eager to find more housing for people with limited incomes, but the area’s affordable-housing options are few and far between. Miller said that’s frustrating because clients who are qualified to live independently can’t find a suitable house or apartment.

“They’ve done everything right,” she said, “but housing that’s affordable for them doesn’t exist.”

To learn more about WATTS or to support its mission to help the homeless in and around Winchester, visit watts-homelessshelter.org.

Via Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/coldest-night-of-the-year-event-fills-city-streets-to-help-the-homeless/article_144161b4-3e3f-50db-9ac5-63f85985e5eb.html

More than 600 participants walk up Amherst Street in Winchester during Saturday’s Coldest Night of the Year, a fundraiser for the Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS) program. This year’s event brought in approximately $101,000 for WATTS. – Photo by Brian Brehm/The Winchester Star.

Chain of Checks donations presented to 6 local nonprofits

The annual Chain of Checks charitable campaign sponsored by the Community Foundation of the Northern Shenandoah Valley (NSV) and conducted over the 2024 holiday season has awarded $25,000 in grants to six local nonprofits.

“Due to the community’s outpouring of support, the campaign was able to expand the number of grants [from four to six],” Barry Lee Bowser, founder of Chain of Checks, said in a media release of the 2024 fundraising campaign.

With the theme of the most recent campaign being “shelter,” grants were presented to:

Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS) — $5,000 to help with the expenses of maintaining and operating a bus that transports 35 guests each night during cold-weather months to a local host church where people experiencing homelessness can enjoy a free meal and safe place to sleep.

Winchester Rescue Mission — $5,000 to put toward the purchase of 25 heavy-duty, easy-to-clean beds and mattresses for the nonprofit’s soon-to-open emergency shelter on Valley Avenue.

Blue Ridge Habitat for Humanity — $5,000 to improve the marketing and outreach of its ReStore home improvement outlet on Millwood Avenue in Winchester, which raises money to help the nonprofit build and rehabilitate houses for families in need.

The Laurel Center — $5,000 to support its outreach programs so that victims of domestic and sexual violence are aware of the nonprofit’s emergency shelter and services on North Cameron Street.

Blue Ridge Legal Services Inc. — $2,000 to help it continue to provide free legal assistance to low-income residents of the Northern Shenandoah Valley.

Wesley Housing’s Senseny Place — $3,000 to help it provide affordable housing and support services for low-income older adults.

Applications for the 2024 Chain of Checks grants were submitted online through the Community Foundation NSV and reviewed by the foundation’s community-conscious selection committee. The $25,000 in awards came from the following sources:

Corporate sponsors Bill and Lois Reynolds, as well as the Gum family with White House Foods in Winchester.

Half of the proceeds from opening night of Frederick County Parks and Recreation’s “Winter Wonderland” holiday light display in Clearbrook Park.

Christmas movie fundraisers hosted by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Nerangis Management Corp.

Collection canisters at various local businesses including 16 Handy Mart/Dunkin’ Donuts locations and Solenberger’s Hardware in Winchester.

The Clarke County Community Band’s Berryville Christmas concert.

Online and mailed donations from individuals and businesses.

Applications for the 2025 Chain of Checks campaign will open in late spring at the Community Foundation NSV’s website (cfnsv.org). For more information, email Community Foundation NSV Executive Director Rebekah DesMarais at director@CFNSV.org or visit the Chain of Checks website at chainofchecks.com.

Since 1986, Chain of Checks has awarded a total of $2,009,703 to assorted nonprofits in the Winchester area, the media release states.

Via Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/chain-of-checks-donations-presented-to-6-local-nonprofits/article_2ab6cd8e-cf32-5168-aed8-ac18e75082b3.html

Annual homeless count is happening this week

An annual tallying of people who are homeless in the Winchester, Frederick County and Clarke County region will happen today and Thursday, according to a media release from the Western Virginia Continuum of Care (CoC).

The Western Virginia CoC is a network of nonprofits, regional planners and government funders aimed at reducing and preventing homelessness. Each January, the organization conducts its Point-in-Time (PIT) count to provide a “snapshot of homeless individuals on one night each year.” The program does this by canvassing the region to find and survey those who are living in cars, abandoned buildings, local shelters and tents.

“The goal is to get an accurate census of everybody who’s experiencing homelessness, so that [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] can allocate federal resources,” explained Kaitlin Heatwole, who is the Western Virginia CoC’s data lead.

Both locally and nationally, homelessness has been trending upward since the COVID-19 pandemic, Heatwole said.

In 2024, the PIT census identified 112 people without homes in Winchester, Frederick County and Clarke County. Eighty percent were found in local shelters, like Winchester Rescue Mission and Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter, while the remaining 20% were unsheltered.

Last year, there was about an 8% increase from 2023’s PIT count in the greater Winchester region, according to Heatwole. And homelessness increased by 18% throughout the country in 2024, per nationwide PIT count numbers.

Heatwole described these totals as undercounts, with certain groups — like people staying in motels or people who are living at a friend’s or relative’s home — left out of the tally.

Those who are not staying at a shelter, who are on the streets or in their cars instead, are “a lot harder to find.” This year, though, the Western Virginia CoC has expanded its team of volunteers in hopes of identifying more people and coming back with a more accurate result. It’s still possible that the numbers for 2025 will end up lower than expected because this week’s intense cold could be driving more people into hotels and motels than usual, Heatwole said.

As the CoC’s volunteers canvas the community this week, they will not just be taking a headcount. They will also be surveying individuals on reasons for lacking a residence, which can help the CoC better understand and help the homeless.

“We’re not required to ask that question, but we do because it helps us understand why people are in that situation and what we can do to help them get out of it, get back into stable housing,” Heatwole said.

Last year’s most common response for the “single top reason” of homelessness throughout Western Virginia was unemployment or lack of income. A few other common answers were being unable to buy a place, eviction and inability to pay rent and mortgage, according to Heatwole.

“The straw that breaks the camel’s back for people is economic,” she said, “and it’s very tied up with housing as well.”

To learn more about the program, how to get involved or how to get help, visit continuumofcare513.com.

Via The Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/annual-homeless-count-is-happening-this-week/article_6f158a09-1ee8-5979-9318-6e45359bd2b4.html

Open Forum: Kathy was compassionate, empathetic, generous

I will sorely miss Kathy Nerangis because Kathy was my Den Mother! Let me explain. In 2009 we were new to the Winchester area and our church was getting involved in a new program to shelter the homeless during the winter; it was the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter or WATTS. Kathy took a leadership role in our church’s WATTS program — her specialty was breakfast. It took a special person to get out of a warm bed at 4 a.m. on cold, frosty February mornings so she could drive to our WATTS shelter to cook and serve hot, nutritious breakfasts to our WATTS’ guests. Kathy organized a small group of us into the Christ Church WATTS Breakfast Club, which we later renamed the Mole Patrol because we worked in the dark so we wouldn’t wake up the guests. Kathy was our Den Mother.

Kathy took time to get to know our WATTS’ guests and helped those that she could find jobs, which led to some guests reconciling with their kids and other family members. She especially looked forward to giving our WATTS’ guests knitted prayer squares with inspirational messages.

Kathy was compassionate, empathetic, and generous with her time, money, and talent. Over the years her energy waned but she always showed up to hand out prayer squares and to hug the guests as they left the shelter. She never asked for any personal recognition but was the first to point out and ask for the recognition of deserving volunteers.

I will deeply miss our Breakfast Club/Mole Patrol Den Mother but I’m sure that somewhere in heaven Kathy has already set herself up as a Den Mother organizing her fellow angels to support our neediest friends and neighbors.

by PATRICK KOFALT, a resident of Winchester.

Via The Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/open-forum-kathy-was-compassionate-empathetic-generous/article_3e603884-9f74-5cf6-98cf-51388d144a27.html

Thanksgiving Day 5K in Stephens City to Benefit WATTS Shelter

On November 28, runners and walkers are invited to gather at Sherando High School for the Thanksgiving Day 5K and Kids Fun Run, an annual event aimed at raising funds for the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS) and hosted by Frederick County Parks & Rec.

The event, designed to bring the community together for a cause ahead of Thanksgiving celebrations, will offer a morning of fitness activities while benefiting those in need.

The Thanksgiving Day 5K race, set to begin at 8:45 a.m., will take participants through a certified course that spans Sherando Park, incorporating track, pavement, and scenic woodland trails.

This 5K event will feature electronic chip timing for precise results, and prizes will be awarded to the top three male and female finishers, as well as to the top master male and female runners.

Participants of all ages are encouraged to join, whether running, walking, or strolling the course.

The event also includes a Kids Fun Run, with starting times at 8 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. based on age groups, allowing younger participants to enjoy a shorter, family-friendly race.

Both events are structured to provide a community-oriented start to the holiday, with all proceeds supporting the efforts of WATTS to provide temporary shelter and resources to vulnerable adults experiencing homelessness in the Winchester area.

The organization works throughout the year to deliver essential services, making the race a vital opportunity to contribute to its outreach.

Sherando High School, located at 185 S. Warrior Drive in Stephens City, will serve as the starting point and venue for both the 5K and Kids Fun Run.

Event organizers encourage early arrival to allow participants time to check in at the school’s track; parking will be available at the school.

To register, participants can visit the official event page.

Via The Winchester Gazette

Original article: https://www.thewinchestergazette.com/articles/calendar/thanksgiving-day-5k-in-stephens-city-to-benefit-watts-shelter-november-28/

WATTS annual ‘Caring & Sharing’ fundraiser a success

The Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS) held its annual Caring & Sharing fundraiser on Oct. 19, 2024 at Elks Lodge 867, with about 165 people in attendance. WATTS’ overnight shelter season begins Nov. 2. Awards were presented to: Love to NIC, nonprofit of the year; Billy Sous, small business partner of the year; Elks Club 867, civic group of the year; 2024 President’s Award went to Johnny Blue Inc.; Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Tami Light (pictured here between WATTS board President Mike Ashby and WATTS Executive Director Robyn Miller). A special presentation was made to Greenwood Fire Company and the Cunningham family in memory of Walt Cunningham, the namesake of the WATTS golf tournament, for their longtime partnership with WATTS.

Via The Winchester Star

https://www.winchesterstar.com/thumbnail-10-19-24-watts-c-s—tami-light-jpg/image_1328d146-1838-50ea-850b-3c6bfd19fad3.html

Woman spearheads effort to create care packages to the homeless

Sheila Davis is making the world a better place, one person at a time.

“I’m putting out a lot of love, a lot of good vibes, and spreading it through the community,” the Mountain Falls resident said on Monday morning. “I’m just grateful to do what I do.”

Davis maintains a sunny, optimistic disposition despite some severe setbacks she has experienced in her life. Much of her childhood was spent at the Henry and William Evans Home for Children in Winchester, which takes in kids from families facing a financial, medical or legal crisis. Later, as an adult, a chronic health condition knocked Davis out of the workforce and largely restricted her to her home in Mountain Falls.

Since Davis has never had an easy go of things, it wouldn’t be surprising if she held a certain degree of bitterness. But that’s not her, not at all, because she prefers to help her neighbors in need.

Davis first started doing things for the homeless many years ago; she continues to help the less fortunate as a tribute to the many people who have helped her, especially former Evans Home Executive Director Kirby Lloyd, who ran the nonprofit from 1978 to 1999. Lloyd, a Star Tannery resident who died in 2013, taught Davis the importance of community and helping others, and it’s a lesson she took to heart.

Davis seeks out people and organizations in need and recruits cadres of area residents who share her passion to serve. Together, they collect or donate items that are delivered to local nonprofit agencies that serve the homeless, including the Congregational Community Action Project (CCAP), Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS), Winchester Rescue Mission and Family Promise Northern Shenandoah Valley.

“The more we work together, the better things are going to be,” Davis said.

Thanks to the community’s generosity last year, Davis and her friends were able to assemble 328 care packages for the homeless. Each package contained hats, gloves, toiletries, toothbrushes, bandages, and hand and foot warmers.

This year, Davis wants to up the ante by assembling 400 care packages — 200 for WATTS, plus another 200 for shelter and support programs in Front Royal — to help the Northern Shenandoah Valley’s growing homeless population.

Davis is currently seeking donations for this year’s packages. She especially needs hand and foot warmers for people who can’t escape the cold.

“Packing will be one day during the first week of December,” Davis said. “That’s when we should have enough items to do 400 care kits.”

Beyond providing immediate assistance to people experiencing homelessness, Davis said she hopes her care packages and other community service efforts will create an enduring legacy of helping others that will live on long after she’s gone.

To make a donation or learn more about WATTS, visit watts-homelessshelter.org.

Via The Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/woman-spearheads-effort-to-create-care-packages-to-the-homeless/article_18866db2-8947-50df-bde1-05bd97b282f6.html

Sheila Davis of Mountain Falls gives back to the community each year by coordinating donations and assembling care packages for people experiencing homelessness in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. – Courtesy photo/The Winchester Star.

Hundreds brave the cold and damp to help the homeless

Saturday evening was cold, wet and miserable.

In other words, it was the perfect night to experience, at least for a short while, what it’s like to be a homeless person in Winchester.

The nonprofit Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter (WATTS) held its second Coldest Night of the Year walk on Saturday. The event raised money for its programs to support the homeless and give people an opportunity to step in the figurative shoes of a person who has nowhere to turn for shelter and survives on whatever food is provided by churches and charities.

“You will walk past the [WATTS] guests who have to sit at a bus stop for an hour in this same weather,” WATTS Executive Director Robyn Miller said as the walkers assembled inside Braddock Street United Methodist Church at 115 Wolfe St.

The Coldest Night of the Year is an awareness initiative and fundraiser that originated in 2011 in Toronto, Canada, and since then has generated more than $75 million in contributions to help the homeless populations of 190 Canadian communities. The event expanded into the United States last year, and WATTS participated in the inaugural event with more than 400 volunteer walkers.

In terms of participants and money raised, WATTS ranked second in the United States last year among all the communities that held Coldest Night of the Year walks. The local effort was only eclipsed by the city of Fredericksburg.

This year, Miller said she wanted to be first among all 40 participating locations in the U.S. — and she nearly was. Winchester had 719 walkers and raised $114,656, which was 176% of WATTS’ goal of $65,000, but Fredericksburg led the nation with 770 walkers and $169,051 in contributions.

Even though Winchester came in second nationally for the second year in a row, Miller said participation in Saturday’s walk was “beyond my prayers. I just couldn’t have imagined.”

“We were expecting about 600 [walkers],” WATTS board member and Coldest Night of the Year event chairman Clay Perry said.

Miller said the money raised Saturday was enough to cover a quarter of WATTS’ annual operating budget. That will allow the nonprofit to continue its mission of serving the homeless with temporary overnight shelter and meals during cold months, daytime heating and cooling centers with snacks throughout the year and ongoing services to help them regain control of their lives and obtain permanent housing.

“Every time they (clients) apply for an apartment, it’s a $40 fee. Every time they get an ID, it’s another $10 fee,” Miller said. “We pay for all of that.”

Most participants in Coldest Night of the Year walks are part of a team comprised of family, coworkers, fellow church members and so on. In Winchester, Southside Church of Christ fielded the biggest team with 38 walkers, followed by Winchester Medical Center‘s School of Medical Imaging with 29. It could be argued, though, that New Life Christian Church had the most participants because it fielded three separate teams with a total of 61 walkers.

“They sign up as different teams to challenge each other and raise more money,” Perry said.

Among the walkers were a host of local and state dignitaries including Winchester City Councilors Les Veach and Emily Windle, Frederick County Supervisor John Jewell, Frederick County Circuit Court Clerk Sarah Kahle, Winchester Sheriff William Sales, Frederick County Sheriff Lenny Millholland, Del. Bill Wiley (R-Frederick County) and Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

“This is not something that is new to me because I ran a homeless shelter for women and children when I lived in Hampton Roads,” Earle-Sears said. “I wanted to be here. … WATTS is what happens when people say, ‘Somebody ought to do something,’ and then they realize they are that somebody.”

Earle-Sears commended WATTS for having the foresight to recognize that area churches could be utilized as temporary shelters during cold-weather months. The nonprofit is able to accommodate overnight guests through the winter thanks to a rotating roster of churches and community organizations that partner with WATTS and allow use of their facilities for one week at a time.

A former client of WATTS also shared his story of going from the streets to his own apartment.

He said he took a “leap of faith” and left his home in Washington, D.C., to move to Winchester. However, a lack of affordable housing forced him into homelessness for several months before he found his own dwelling.

“I’ve seen both sides — having shelter and not having shelter — and believe me, there are really good people living without,” the employed man said. “You can’t always judge a book by its cover because everyone has a story.”

The 719 people who had crowded onto Wolfe Street outside of Braddock Street United Methodist Church then stepped off for their walk through Winchester. Participants remained together until they reached the intersection of Amherst and West Boscawen streets, where they split into two groups: One that followed a 2-kilometer course, and a second that took a longer 5-kilometer route.

Despite a cold, steady drizzle, walkers had high spirits. That was particularly evident when Sabra Veach of Winchester skipped her way across Amherst Street, a huge grin on her face.

All the cold but happy walkers eventually returned to Braddock Street United Methodist Church for a simple meal of soup, exemplifying how people who are homeless sometimes have to subsist on the most basic food items — if they can find any food at all.

To learn more about WATTS, visit watts-homelessshelter.org or Coldest Night of the Year at cnoy.com/winchester.

Via The Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/hundreds-brave-the-cold-and-damp-to-help-the-homeless/article_db3c6f2d-776e-5ce1-9cc9-0f93dd2c8b5e.html

More than 700 participants get into position on Wolfe Street for the start of Saturday evening’s Coldest Night of the Year, a fundraising walk and awareness event to support the Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter’s ongoing mission to eradicate homelessness. – Photo by Brian Brehm/The Winchester Star.