Volunteer Group Will Take Over Safe Harbor

A board of volunteers will take over operations of Easton's Safe Harbor at the start of October, effectively saving the Bushkill Street homeless shelter from closing.

"The good news today is that will remain open," said Alan Jennings, Executive Director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, announced at a news conference Wednesday at the shelter.

The CACLV had overseen Safe Harbor -- which serves single men and women -- for the last 20 years. But by the end of next fiscal year, that will no longer be the case. 

The board, known as "Safe Harbor Easton, Inc." will take over starting Oct. 1. CACLV will operate the shelter until then, and provide some administrative support until -- at the very latest -- the end of the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Earlier this year, that budget cuts could force it to close Safe Harbor. Now, Jennings says he's glad the volunteers will run the shelter -- with some block grant funding through the 2013-2014 fiscal years.

However, Jennings cautioned his audience Wednesday that more support , in light in the significant funding cuts to CACLV.

"We've got every finger in the dike, and it's not enough," he said.

The new leadership shouldn't mean any changes to Safe Harbor's day-to-day operations, although Tyler Rogers, who'll become the shelter's new director, noted that they could wind up serving few people in the future.

Safe Harbor serviced 346 people in the 2010-2011 fiscal year; in the new year, that number could drop down to the 300-310 range, Rogers said. And budget cuts have already cost Safe Harbor two staff members.

Past and present residents welcomed the news that Safe Harbor would remain open.

Dolores Ebbert is a four-month resident of Safe Harbor who's looking for a place to live.

"It's been a long haul and I was getting worried that this place would close," she said.

Ebbert was happy to learn that Safe Harbor would remain open, both for her and the people who haven't found it yet. 

"There are a lot of homeless people and I mean homeless, living in the woods or under bridges," she said.

"To know that this is still here for the community as a whole, is a blessing," said Michele Lawshe, who was living at Safe Harbor in the spring, but now has an apartment in downtown Easton.

Earlier in the day, Jennings had spoken of how the current economic climate was effecting middle class as well as lower class people. Lawshe belonged to the former category, a former bank employee who lost her job, then her home.

"Starting over means you’re going to take baby steps," she said. "Safe Harbor is the place where you can start over again."