PARKERSBURG - A tally of the Wood County homeless population late Thursday night revealed seven individuals living outside in make-shift shelters and tents, but freezing temperatures caused many to seek shelter at the Salvation Army, officials said.
The Continuum of Care organizes the biannual count that involves counting homeless individuals staying in shelters, transitional homes and living in abandoned buildings and tents. Volunteers also conduct interviews and hand out bags of gloves, hats, snacks and toiletries.
A final tally, including people counted in shelters, will be available next week, said Shannon Morgan, director of Wood County Family Resources Network.
"We only counted seven unsheltered individuals, but it was so cold that a lot of people who would otherwise be staying in tents went to shelters. Salvation Army was packed," said Morgan. "But that's a good sign. It means people are caring enough to bring them inside, and the shelters made room for them."
Cots were set up in the cafeteria area of the Salvation Army to accommodate the crowd, she said. It was so cold Thursday that the team did not use the Parkersburg Fire Department's rescue boat, as it has done in the past.
A group of 46 individuals braved temperatures of 16 degrees from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. to search under bridges and in abandoned houses and buildings. Of the 46 volunteers, 36 were members of the community who are not affiliated with the Continuum of Care.
Volunteers were divided into five groups who spread out around the city.
The group discovered 23 evidence sites containing tents, blankets, trash and other items indicating they were occupied at one time. Several tents were set up under the East Street Bridge.
"We looked in an abandoned marble factory near the East Street Bridge and saw shoes, cans of potted meat and even a baby pacifier," said Morgan. "That was hard."
It was Eric Beeson's first time participating in the count.
"I always knew about the homeless situation in Parkersburg, but never really knew where I could make a difference," said Beeson.
"Through this walk, my eyes were opened to the overwhelming amount of trash that clutters the streets, woods and river banks. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of the trash wasn't the result of the homeless people living there, but from those who don't think before we throw this or that out the window, or more frightening, into the river," Beeson said.
Lisa Doyle Parsons with the Children's Home Society said the count is an eye-opener for all involved.
"It's hard to deny the reality when you see it first-hand," she said. "Even though it's cold, and sometimes depressing, for participants to be hiking around in the late hours of a cold January night, it later motivates us to dig deeper, work a little harder and be a little more creative."
The counts take place in the summer and winter. Last winter, volunteers counted a total of 160 homeless people, with 145 in shelters and 15 unsheltered, said Morgan.
Results of the tally are sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine the amount of grant money given to agencies in Wood County.
