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Results of Adair Homeless Count are in: 36 Local faith-based group taking active steps to help locals in crisis; seeking funding From J.O.Y Ministries Columbia, KY, 28 Sep 2015 - One local woman lives in a vacant storage unit. A young veteran and his wife are living under a local bridge. A mom with two small kids lives with a stranger who took them in for a few days. One local man walks from the Dreamland Motel to various locations around town looking for work. He can afford to stay in a hotel for two more days. These situations represent a small sample of the 36 people formally identified in Adair County as "homeless" during the month of August. J.O.Y. Ministries, a Christian non-profit organization here in Adair County, has encountered many individuals and families living in crisis--without adequate shelter, transportation, food, or clothing--since its founding several years ago. As the group's missions work with this population has expanded, J.O.Y. volunteers have noticed two alarming trends. First, the number of people living on the edge of homelessness or as homeless seems to be increasing. In addition, many people are literally stuck--without transportation, resources, or knowledge needed to improve their situation. "We haven't just seen more people living in crisis," said J.O.Y. volunteer Maggie Coleman. "We have seen more and more people in town who don't know where to find help. Sometimes helping them simply means directing them to an existing organization." When Coleman began volunteering for her church's help hotline, she said her own biases led her to believe that she would encounter many people who were trying to manipulate the system and take advantage of charitable organizations. Instead, she was surprised when she encountered many people who had never asked for public assistance or charity. "Some people are not even aware that we have a local food pantry or that there are churches in town that offer free clothing or food," said Coleman. J.O.Y. Ministries decided to investigate creating a crisis center for the local area to act as a central point of contact. However, the organization first wanted to confirm the impressions of its members about the homeless situation. The 2015 K-Count, a state-wide homeless count conducted in a 24-hour period in January, reported that Adair County has 38 homeless people, up from 27 in 2014. J.O.Y. Ministries decided to undertake their own count, using a phone number where people could call in to the line for the month of August and report themselves or someone they know as homeless. The organization reports that its findings show that all the homeless individuals reside in Adair County, many of them life-long residents now without shelter. Two are veterans. In a single month, 36 people were counted using the hotline, so the count's numbers nearly matched those of the most recent K-Count, confirming the organization's anecdotal experience and the trend that these numbers are on the rise. J.O.Y. Ministries is now hoping to raise funds to purchase a property that will allow it to offer both immediate, temporary shelter and additional services, such as Christian counseling and recovery programs, job training, personal financial education, and transitional housing. J.O.Y. wants aid and programs to extend to individuals and families at risk of becoming homeless. The organization hopes to pool resources and work in partnership with local churches, agencies, and organizations to get people patched into the aid and programming they need. If you would like to make a donation toward the purchase of this property to be used as a crisis center, please submit your tax-deductible donation to J.O.Y. Ministries at P.O. Box 114, Columbia, KY 42728. This story was posted on 2015-09-30 17:11:46
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115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
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