During this cold winter, Hoboken’s homeless shelter on Third and Bloomfield Streets has been meeting its limit of housing 50 guests each night, said Jaclyn Cherubini, executive director. However, they often meet capacity even on warm days. When it’s cold, the county’s United Way will find other spots for people who come to the Hoboken shelter after it’s full.
The shelter also serves dozens of warm dinners to the area’s poor and homeless each night. “The other night it was very cold and icy, and we still had six volunteers who came in to make sure we had meals for our guests,” Cherubini said last week. “And last week [Jan. 26] during the big storm, we had 12 volunteers come in.”
“They’re human beings; they just don’t have a home.” – Jaclyn Cherubini
________
The shelter – which served 100,264 meals in 2010, compared to 55,000 in 2005 – began operating in 1982, formed by the faith-based communities of Hoboken. The facility provides beds for 35 men and 15 women per night.
The shelter relies on volunteers to donate their time to serve meals. In 2010, the shelter had 3,000 volunteers, with the majority coming from Hoboken.
Cherubini says in the cold months more people come into the shelter seeking help, but it’s not drastically different from the heat of the summer.
2010 job placement
When guests enter the shelter, they are asked to set goals for themselves to try to end their homelessness. Cherubini says on top of the list is often a search for a new job.
“Each person became homeless for different reasons,” Cherubini said. “So there is a different path for each person. But many of them say they need help finding a job.”
In 2007, only seven guests of the shelter found work. So Cherubini and her staff asked the guests, “How can we better help you?” Many of them said they needed help writing resumes, finding job openings, and using computers. The shelter began offering classes that cater to those needs.
In 2010, a remarkable 117 people from the shelter found work.
“It may not be the job [they really want],” Cherubini said. “But it is a job. And to get the job they want, they often have to take other jobs first.”
Counselors at the shelter work with the guests to help them find jobs through sites like Craigslist.
To improve case management services in the shelter, new offices and lockers were recently constructed. A state grant provided the shelter with lockers for the guests of the shelter, and the offices came by way of a county grant.
123 found homes
The ultimate goal for guests is to end their homelessness. In 2010, 123 people found homes, and were able to end their chronic homelessness.
Forty seven guests were reunited with family members, 10 were placed in program housing, such as a transitional home, and 66 found their way into market rate apartments in Hudson County.
Profile of a guest
Not all of the guests who come into the shelter are chronically homeless. In fact, 25 percent of the guests who come in for meals are part of the “working poor,” meaning they have jobs but cannot afford all the bills that come with life in Hudson County.
“We always tell them to save the money for the rent, and we’ll feed you,” Cherubini said.
Cherubini says that volunteers are often heard saying that they know a certain guest, or they went to high school with one of the people on the food line.
“A lot of people lost their jobs recently, and went from a two source income to a one source income,” she said. “Now we’re seeing people down to no income. Hunger and poverty can affect everyone.”
Fifty percent of the guests are born and raised in Hoboken, 45 percent are from surrounding communities, and approximately 5 percent are from different parts of the state. Cherubini said the guests are a diverse mix of individuals.
“One third are white, one third are black, one third are Latino,” she said. “One third are working, one third are going to an educational program and one third are looking to find a job or an educational program.”
She also said the guests are well educated, as some have attended Rutgers, M.I.T., St. Peter’s College, and Stevens.
“They’re not the Hollywood homeless,” she said. “They’re not the people who walk around with all their bags. They’re human beings; they just don’t have a home.”
In addition to donations of time by the over 3,000 volunteers in 2010, proper funding is a necessity to keep the shelter running.
“Hunger has doubled over the last few years,” Cherubini said. “But our budget has not.”
Fifty percent of the funding for the shelter comes from the government, 25 percent comes from individual donations, and the remaining 25 percent comes from corporate gifts and fundraising.
Schools make sandwiches for two
“Different schools, including Kaplan, Elysian Charter, Hoboken Charter and Hudson School, their parents have been making two sandwiches a day,” Cherubini said. “They make one for their kid, and one for our guests, and that’s great.”
Instead of the guests of the shelter spending an hour’s worth of work pay on lunch, they receive a healthy meal.
“A lot of people ask, ‘What do they like?’ ” Cherubini said. “I always say they’re not picky, just hungry.”
Cherubini said nine out of 10 volunteers – a number she is proud of – say the shelter is a safe, clean place where they know they can provide help.
The shelter does not provide programs for children, but through a county initiative led by the Hudson County Department of Health and Human Services, no child in Hudson County sleeps on the streets.
“If someone calls the homeless hotline, they will make sure the child has a bed,” Cherubini said.
The homeless hotline number is 800-624-0287. The shelter partners with the York Street Project, Project HOME, and the HOPE House to provide services for homeless children in Hoboken.
Ray Smith may be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com
Art as an outlet
A man named Vicente, who is currently housed in his own home thanks to the support of the shelter, found a hidden talent for art during his time in the shelter.
In November and December, the shelter held an “Art and Creative Writing Show” at the shelter, which showcased the artwork of some of the guests.
Cherubini said Vicente never realized he had artistic talent until he started painting at the shelter.
With such a demand for services, Cherubini said some question why programs like an art exhibit exist.
“One guest answered that question when he said, ‘It just makes me feel good,’ ” Cherubini said. “How do you argue with that?”
For more information about the shelter, visit HobokenShelter.org.