New Worcester Emergency Shelter Opens At Capacity, Seeks Volunteers

WORCESTER, MA — A new emergency winter shelter for homeless people in the Worcester area is already turning people away.

The 60-bed shelter at Blessed Sacrament Church along Pleasant Street opened Monday, and within hours had hit capacity. And with high demand and nasty winter weather already here, the nonprofit managing the shelter is seeking local volunteers for a variety of duties.

"Within five hours, the shelter was at capacity, showing just how much need there is in our community. Staff are finding alternate arrangements for those who arrived after the shelter reached capacity, but volunteers are needed to cook evening meals for the shelter, organize activities and donate items for our guests, including holiday gifts," shelter operator Open Sky Community Services said.

The shelter is a replacement for Hotel Grace, an emergency winter homeless shelter that previously operated out of a church along Vernon Street. After Hotel Grace lost its lease for space there, city officials and outreach workers scrambled to find a replacement over the last few months.

According to City Manager Eric Batista, officials explored using 12 other sites before Blessed Sacrament agreed to open a shelter at an auxiliary community building along Federal Place.

The need for winter shelter beds may be greater now than ever. Outreach workers say the homeless population jumped about 43 percent over the 12 months ending in June — and that's likely an undercount. Data released by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development said there were 1,277 homeless people living across the city and county during a one-night count in February.

If you want to donate to or volunteer at the Blessed Sacrament shelter, call (774) 276-1281.