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A night of music to benefit WATTS

WINCHESTER — Enjoy an evening of live music and help out a local nonprofit during the Music with a Mission concert on Thursday night.

Four bands will play to help out the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS). Working with local churches, WATTS provides safe, temporary, overnight shelter to the homeless from November to March.

The concert takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Bright Box, 15 N. Loudoun St. in downtown Winchester.

Performing that night are: Lowly Souls (Southern rock); The Tribe (funk/soul/R&B); Oceans in Heaven (indie-pop); a little too serious (indie-folk).

Tickets and reservations aren’t necessary. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

Food and drink available are purchase.

Click here for the original Winchester Star article.

New WATTS executive director continues to seek permanent location

WINCHESTER — Robyn Miller, interim executive director for the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS), said the charity is “constantly” working on several leads for a permanent, year-round location to shelter the area’s homeless.

“Housing in Winchester just gets more and more expensive,” Miller said on Tuesday. “We’re displacing people all the time.”

WATTS, a nonprofit group, partners with local faith-based organization to provide overnight shelter to people who need a warm place to sleep when the weather turns cold. The program rotates through various churches, a week at a time, for 20 weeks.

Miller, a WATTS board member and former volunteer, recently succeeded Marion Schottelkorb, who died last month. Miller is acting as interim executive director until Jan. 1, at which time she will solidify her position.

She said she would like to be the director that sees “Marion’s vision” of a permanent, 365-day-a-year shelter become a reality.

Progress is being made on that vision, Miller said. The Salvation Army has offered to donate some land, while several churches have offered buildings, she said.

Miller declined to say exactly where the land and buildings are because WATTS’ expansion committee is still studying each site, she said. But it is a primary project the 15-member board is undertaking.

There are more immediate concerns, Miller said. Fundraising is a constant worry, as it takes $130,000 to put on the 20 weeks of programming. The WATTS program will begin Nov. 9.

Expenses include the bus WATTS owns, medical supplies and pay for the night watchmen who stay with the 35 sheltered guests.

Also, First United Methodist Church is moving from downtown, so that location will not be available this year, Miller said. The board has to find another location for that week.

Miller said she would also like to chip away at the stigma of homelessness. While some of the WATTS guests are people with mental illnesses and physical disabilities, more than half of them are people who work jobs in construction or restaurants, she said.

“They go to work every day,” she said, adding that the competition and cost of housing in the area can be so intense that working people cannot afford a place to live.

A member of Braddock Street United Methodist Church. Miller said she was looking for a volunteer opportunity and ended up helping when Braddock Street UMC hosted WATTS. She became a board member about a year ago, she said.

Miller is the only full-time employee of WATTS. Her salary is $52,000, she said.

WATTS can only take 35 people, Miller said. They frequently have to turn people away “and it’s awful.”

She said she was immediately enamored with WATTS’ mission when she started volunteering and hopes to continue maintaining and growing the organization.

“It’s just a meal, a bed and fellowship,” she said. “And it makes such a huge difference in the community.”

— Contact Onofrio Castiglia at ocastiglia@winchesterstar.com
Click here for the original Winchester Star article.

Schottelkorb’s compassion, leadership celebrated at WATTS fundraiser

WINCHESTER — The legacy of Marion Schottelkorb loomed large Saturday night at an event she was helping organize when she died last month.

The event was A Wizardly Evening in Oz, a “Wizard of Oz”-themed fundraiser for Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS), the nonprofit overseen by Schottelkorb for nine of its 10 years.

“She was a person of very deep passion and commitment to anything she was involved with,” said Opequon Presbyterian Church Pastor David Witt, who headed the task force of local churches that created WATTS in 2009. “That certainly involved a deep commitment and loyalty to the WATTS ministry.”

WATTS is a program that provides a warm, safe place for homeless people to have a meal and sleep during cold weather, from November to March. Twenty participating churches offer shelter for one week at a time, and shuttle services are provided to transport clients to and from each week’s location. Guests check in at 7 p.m. each night and leave by 7 a.m. each day.

“Our WATTS shelter may be open 20 weeks during the year, but it requires a year-round effort,” Witt said.

Many of the volunteers and donors who keep WATTS running attended Saturday’s banquet at West Oaks Farm Market at 4305 Middle Road in Frederick County. Sue Nixson, who handles marketing for WATTS, said Schottelkorb was key in choosing the location following last year’s fundraiser at the Cloverdale Barn on Cedar Creek Grade.

“We just picked up where she left and continued on with the plans for tonight,” Nixson said on Saturday.

Schottelkorb’s spirit also drove the creation of a new award to honor an individual for his or her outstanding support of the nonprofit organization. The first Marion Schottelkorb Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Jon Eye, president of Mover Dudes in Winchester.

In announcing the award winner at Saturday’s fundraiser, WATTS board member Robyn Miller said Eye was “truly the man behind the curtain” — a nod to the fictional “Wizard of Oz” character created by author L. Frank Baum.

“Most volunteers have never met him, but he has been to every one of your shelters and is crucial to your success,” Miller said.

Eye and his moving company volunteer each week during WATTS season to transport the nonprofit’s bedding and equipment from church to church.

“If we had to pay a mover to do this, it would cost us $354 a week. That’s over $7,000 a shelter season,” Miller said. “He has done it for free the past three years.”

“It’s easy to do things for the community when you have such an awesome leader like that,” Eye said, referring to Schottelkorb, who died on July 6.

Since WATTS is a faith-based organization, Witt offered a prayer thanking the woman whose compassion and example inspired all of the attendees at Saturday night’s fundraiser.

“Marion has left us a sincere and genuine legacy,” Witt said, “and we pray that we would take that baton and go into the future.”

By BRIAN BREHM The Winchester Star
Click here for the original article.

Longtime WATTS leader Marion Schottelkorb dies

WINCHESTER — Marion Schottelkorb, longtime executive director of Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS), died Saturday at her home, surrounded by family and close friends. She was 72.

She had been battling cancer.

For 10 years, Schottelkorb headed WATTS, joining the nonprofit organization shortly after its founding in 2009.

WATTS provides overnight, cold-weather shelter for homeless people in Winchester and Frederick and Clarke counties.

The Rev. David Young, who was Schottelkorb’s pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church in Frederick County, described her as full of energy and an inspiration to others.

“She’s one of those unsung heroes in our world that not everybody knows of, but once you find what they do, you are amazed at what the human spirit can accomplish,” Young said on Sunday. “That’s what Marion was. She was a breath of fresh air and a whirlwind of strength, energy and compassion.”

Laurel Coleman, president of the WATTS board, said that during the first season of WATTS in 2009, only a handful of churches were willing to offer their facilities to accommodate the homeless. She credits Schottelkorb for increasing awareness about WATTS and getting more people involved in the cause. Due in part to Schottelkorb’s efforts, WATTS now has 20 churches that host homeless people from November to March on a weekly rotation.

“She had such a passion for WATTS and helping people,” Coleman said. “I truly admired that about her and her determination to make a difference.”

Schottelkorb’s responsibilities as executive director included bringing churches together, organizing fundraisers and guiding committees. She envisioned raising enough money so that WATTS could have a permanent location that would enable WATTS to shelter people year-round. Coleman said the organization’s dream is to be able to renovate a location for $50,000 to $100,000.

“As her pastor, I’ve been able to witness her dedication and love and care for those who are homeless and it has been inspiring — not only for our congregation, but for people throughout Winchester,” Young said. “She has brought an earnestness and a real leadership to caring for people in need and working so hard to find a place where WATTS can find a permanent home.”

Young said Schottelkorb was a fun-loving jokester who loved having a good time with her husband George and their friends.

“She loved her New England Patriots,” Young said. “She loved her Lord and she fought to serve her God by serving those who were less fortunate. And she did that with a true, genuine leadership and joy.”

A celebration of life service for Schottelkorb will be held in the near future, but Coleman said arrangements have not been finalized. In lieu of flowers, it was Schottelkorb’s wish that people make donations to WATTS online at watts-homelessshelter.org.

Coleman said WATTS’s 15-member board is trying to figure out how to move forward without Schottelkorb.

“I just feel the community has lost a fearless and tireless supporter for WATTS,” Coleman said. “She fought with grace, humor and passion. Her determination was truly to be admired, and WATTS will continue, but we will definitely be missing an element of enthusiasm and spunk.”

WATTS will host a Wizard of Oz-themed fundraiser on Aug. 10 at West Oaks Farm Market from 7-10 p.m. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at eventbrite.com/e/2019-watts-the-wizard-tickets-64435841336. Coleman encourages the public to turn out in honor of Schottelkorb.

In addition to her husband, Schottelkorb is survived by daughters Christyn and Tracey and eight grandchildren.

By JOSH JANNEY The Winchester Star
Click here for the original article.

Village at Orchard Ridge residents help homeless by turning plastic bags into sleeping mats

Residents of the Village at Orchard Ridge retirement community have taken the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” literally, as they were able to collect 31,500 plastic bags and transform them into 35 waterproof mats.

The mats have been given to the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS) to give to the homeless as a waterproof surface to sleep on.

WATTS partners with local faith-based organizations to provide overnight shelter to people who need a warm place to sleep when the weather turns cold. For 20 weeks from November until the spring, different religious groups host WATTS, offering food and sleeping accommodations for up to 35 people. Today marks the end of WATTS’ 10th season.

Janie Dickens-Bowman, volunteer coordinator at Orchard Ridge off Northwestern Pike (U.S. 50), said the idea to create the waterproof mats came came from resident Nancy Mozeleski, who said that the Village at Orchard Ridge has plenty of resources and people to help others. Dickens-Bowman said that nationwide there are various organizations and volunteers who use crocheting, knitting and weaving skills to create waterproof plastic mats or other items to send to less developed countries where many people sleep on the ground.

After hearing Mozeleski’s pitch, Dickens-Bowman browsed the internet to look at how the concept has been used elsewhere and felt it would work well at the Village at Orchard Ridge.

“We’ve got lots of crafty people and people with time and willingness to do something,” she said.

A meeting was held in August to see if any residents were interested, and roughly 15 showed up. The residents assessed what Winchester’s local needs were and determined that they should try to help the homeless. The residents formed a group called the Plarners at Orchard Ridge. The word plarn comes from the combination of plastic and yarn.

The group has close to 40 members. The Plarners started getting the word out about the project in September and informed the roughly 450 residents of the retirement community that they would need to collect plastic bags for the project. Dickens-Bowman said family members of Village at Orchard Ridge residents also donated plastic bags for the project.

Over the course of several months, the Plarners set aside time to sort, fold, cut and loop the bags, turning them into balls of plastic yarn. The Plarners then crocheted the mats from the plastic yarn using gigantic crochet needles.

Dickens-Bowman said it takes about 25 to 30 hours from start to finish to sort, cut, loop and crochet the mats. Each 3-by-6-foot sleeping mat requires about 900 plastic grocery bags.

Dickens-Bowman said many of the Plarners did not know each other before the project but now they have formed new friendships. She said they were able to produce something useful by recycling “annoying” plastic bags.

“This was resident-driven,” Dickens-Bowman said. “They came up with the idea. They sort of formed themselves and divvied out the tasks and the assignments and they have all taken it very seriously. They are very passionate about it.”

WATTS Executive Director Marion Schottelkorb called the donation a “beautiful, caring gesture.”

“It’s just totally amazing,” she said. “The mats are just beautiful. It’s such an awesome idea and such a giving and caring idea.”

Schottelkorb said that WATTS was at capacity the majority of this season. She said WATTS is seeking a permanent location and there are a couple of locations they are evaluating.

Dickens-Bowman said the Plarners will continue to collect bags and create mats. In addition to the 35 mats given to WATTS, the Plarners have created roughly 30 other mats, some of which have been given to the Winchester Rescue Mission.

Via Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/villiage-at-orchard-ridge-residents-help-homeless-by-turning-plastic-bags-into-sleeping-mats/article_7cb0dc4d-fe8d-5a29-bf6d-52f20aeed3ad.html

Members of the Plarner group at The Village at Orchard Ridge (TVOR) hold some of the 35 waterproof mats they made from 31,500 plastic bags for homeless people served by the WATTS program. From left are: Janie Dickens-Bowman, volunteer coordinator at TVOR; Pat McKelvy; Nancy Mozeleski; Jan White; Jan Bright; and Donna Sandin. – Courtesy Photo by The Village at Orchard Ridge

WATTS 10th Anniversary Celebration

A collection of highlighted images from the 10th anniversary celebration of the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter by Krista and Jerry Photography.

Welcome!

Hi, I am Marion Schottelkorb Executive Director of WATTS – So folks often ask me – “how did you get involved with WATTS?” The answer is easy – nine years ago I volunteered! Talk about an awakening!! I really didn’t have any particular perception about the homeless – truth be known I really didn’t think much about “them”. Then I met some of “them” and found people – people who for any number of reasons were without hope, without the basic security of a safe place to stay, who struggled with mental illnesses and/or addictions and couldn’t seem to find a way out – people with hearts and souls who had been rejected and sometimes just needed a warm smile, a simple touch or perhaps (heaven forbid) a hug. I knew that God had placed me in that position for a reason. So my involvement as a volunteer increased to being a co lead volunteer at my church, Bethel Lutheran, to Operations Manager of the shelter and for the last few years as Executive Director. I LOVE my job! I love the congregations and service organizations who provide the brick and mortar facilities required to house our guests. I love the amazing volunteers who are the very heart and soul of WATTS – without them there could be no WATTS. I love my managers and drivers, a group of dedicated individuals who, with care and empathy, ensure that safety and compliance to policies are maintained. Most of all I love our guests – people who appreciate the dignity, respect and grace filled welcoming and shelter of WATTS.

So welcome to our new web page – please check out the opportunities to participate with gifts of time, talents or resources. I welcome your feedback, questions or comments – email wattsexecdirector@gmail.com. Blessings to ALL.

WATTS aiming to expand, but needs volunteers and aid

Since it began in 2010, Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter has saved hundreds of people from freezing temperatures.

But the group’s leader said Monday that it was meant as a supplement, not a substitute, for city and county government shelters. Marion Schottelkorb, executive director of the rotating shelter organization, said local governments have a responsibility to prevent the most vulnerable residents from freezing to death.

“There is a responsibility. It’s just not recognized at this time,” she said after a meeting at Handley Library that aimed to increase community support for the group known as WATTS. “I don’t think WATTS was ever intended to be a substitute. WATTS ministry was born out of the need because it wasn’t happening anywhere else and people were freezing in the streets.”

Kris Tierney, Frederick County administrator, couldn’t be reached after the Monday night meeting, but Lynn Miller, Winchester emergency management coordinator, said the city would open a temporary emergency shelter if needed.

Miller said the Active Learning Center at Jim Barnett Park, which could accommodate 200 to 300 people, would be used. Usage could occur during extremely frigid weather, a widespread power outage, a large fire or during a large hazardous materials release. Miller, hired in 1971, said the city has opened emergency shelters about six times since 1980, although he couldn’t remember the last time.

He said a shelter wasn’t opened during the cold spell in the last week of December and first week of January when temperatures sometimes dropped into single digits because there wasn’t enough demand. He said the needs of five or six people who sought shelter were addressed by the Winchester office of the Virginia Department of Social Services.

“If there is a demand, we’re going to do the best we can to take care of the people in our community. That’s why we’re here,” Miller said. “We’re certainly going to do everything that we can to take care of all the people in our community.”

It is unclear how many homeless people there are in Fredrick County and Winchester, but there are 115 emergency spots in the area. WATTS provides 35 beds. The Salvation Army provides 48 and the Winchester Rescue Mission provides 32.

WATTS, which served about 95 people during the winter of 2016-17, operates from November through March at 17 churches and three Ruritan National Clubs, including the Clarke County Ruritan Fairgrounds.

Each shelter houses people for a week, and the program runs 20 weeks. However, Schottelkorb told the approximately 90 people at the meeting that WATTS, a nonprofit group, operates year-round. It has a $134,000 annual budget and Schottelkorb is the only paid employee.

She said the group needs to do a better job of promoting itself to recruit more volunteers. Schottelkorb noted volunteers don’t have to belong to a church or organized religion to participate and are desperately needed.

“We need you year-round. We have opportunities for you year-round,” she said. “And all of those needs and opportunities are very, very important if we are going to continue what we do well: save lives.”

By EVAN GOODENOW The Winchester Star

Via Winchester Star

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/news/clarke/watts-aiming-to-expand-but-needs-volunteers-and-aid/article_cffba25c-8ea4-5bce-9978-ef1c3ce05853.html

WATTS program Executive Director, Marion Schottelkorb, speaks Monday evening during a meeting to discuss expanding the program in Handley Library’s Robinson Auditorium. – Photo by Scott Mason/The Winchester Star

People gathered in Handley Library’s Robinson Auditorium on Monday to discuss expanding the WATTS program for the homeless. – Photo by Scott Mason/The Winchester Star

Welltown United Methodist Church pastor, Carl Chapman (left), and church member Vickie Hart fold blankets as they get cots ready for the first night of the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS) on November 11. Welltown United Methodist Church hosted the first week of the program. – Photo by Ginger Perry/The Winchester Star

Open Forum: A night at WATTS

Last Thursday our church helped to provide shelter and food for the homeless in the surrounding area through the WATTS ministry. I appreciate all those who volunteered their time.

My part was to spend the night. Basically I was to be a warm body, an extra layer of security. My abilities are limited, but a warm body, that I can do. I sleep poorly at home in my own bed, much less on a cot with heat pipes banging and spotlights on all night.

Sleep never happened. I watched each hour pass. The night seemed long. Finally 6:00 came and it was time for everyone to wake up, eat breakfast, grab a bag of sandwiches, then board an old school bus to travel back to Winchester to be dropped off at C-CAP.

I was asked to ride back on the bus. Again, all I needed to do was to be an extra body, an additional layer of security.

My head was throbbing. I was tired. I wanted to be home, take a shower and go to bed. Riding back that cold morning there was an eerie quiet, a depressing feel. There were 35 homeless, a bus driver, and myself in the front seat.

There were people with plastic bags of stuff, wearing layers of old clothes with bodies that needed to be bathed. Many looked older than their actual age. Their bodies were beat up by life.

As I watched each hobble off the bus, one by one, I wondered what brought each to this world of homelessness. Was it mental illness, drug addiction, a criminal record by choice, or a combination of each of these?

Now at our destination for drop-off at the C-CAP building, it was 15 degrees with an impending blizzard to start later that day. About half went inside where it was warm and sat on rows of benches. A TV provided continuous coverage of the coming blizzard. About half stayed outside to smoke. If I lived in their world I might take up smoking. People shuffled around or sat in silence.

I stood waiting for my ride to take me back to Berryville, my home, my bed, my world. Finally after a long, short wait of about 15 minutes, my ride arrived. An amazing, new 2016 red pickup pulled up.

In the moment it took me to step off the pavement up into that pickup, I left one world for a different one. Leather heated seats, surround sound, big and wide, the smell of new, a smooth ride, this pickup was amazing. The driver was educated, a professional and wealthy. Now there was a conversation. I enjoyed the talk.

It felt good to be home, to see my wife, to be in my bed. My OCD kicked in, I tried to work it all out in my mind. Thirty-five to 50 homeless in an area of 125,000 people. A low percentage. That’s encouraging.

You ask how was I changed by this experience. I don’t know. Maybe not at all. Life is complex. People are complicated. This I do know for certain: hundreds of people gave and will give of their time, money and food so that 35 people are warm, fed and safe during the 17 coldest weeks of the year.

By DAN STANLEY, pastor at Berryville Baptist Church.

Original article: https://www.winchesterstar.com/opinions/open_forums/commentary-open-forum-a-night-at-watts-a-long-night-turns-into-a-more-encouraging/article_31d2e1e1-b80b-5e1d-97aa-7de59c94f59b.html