North Strand Housing Shelter needs more volunteers

The North Strand Housing Shelter in Longs is running well after occupying a new building in June and creating a veterans center in the original building, but needs more volunteers to answer phones, drive vans and mind the office on Highway 9.

“We’ve had some really good success stories lately,” founder Dana Black says. “We’re getting a pretty good network going,” working with a variety of community organizations such as the Veterans Welcome Home & Resource Center in Little River.

Since May 1, before the new building was occupied, through August, North Strand Housing Shelter provided shelter to 40 men, 27 women and 10 children – a total of 77 guests. Of the total, 26 are military veterans, men and women. The August intake numbers show 47 percent of the “adult intakes” were veterans. The same percentage were women. When the shelter first opened in December 2010, the guests overwhelmingly were men.

That soon changed and the shelter began assisting more women and children. An example is the case of a women and her son who came to the attention of the North Myrtle Beach police department. Officers arranged housing for the remainder of the night, Black says, and notified another nonprofit which contacted the shelter. A Lions club was arranging eyeglasses for the mother and North Strand Helping Hand was helping obtain food stamps on Tuesday.

In the building that had provided 16 shelter beds, a veterans center has been created with five mini-apartments. Four of the five units were occupied Tuesday by veterans currently receiving minimal financial support – such that a rent payment would take a large amount of the total. The new building, with a potential of 53 beds, has a wing for veterans.

With the new building, the shelter added its only paid person, an on-site house director. Utilities increased, with the water and sewer costs doubling to $300 a month. Total operating costs have increased from $4,000-$5,000 monthly to $8,000-$9,000, according to treasurer Anne Parker. Costs in the upcoming winter months will depend on the severity of the weather, Parker noted.

The United Way of Horry County increased the shelter’s allocation to $18,000. “That helps a lot,” Black says. Operating the shelter “is not like a business. There is always the unforeseen.” The shelter has had dedicated community support from more than 20 organizations.

Now, there is a need for more volunteers. For one thing, the new building allows four days a week, two for men and two for women, for on-site classes, counseling, Bible study/devotionals, financial planning and doing housekeeping and laundry.

Dorothy Loller answers the phone on Tuesdays. She has volunteered for the shelter for four years, doing different things. “That where my heart is,” she says of the shelter.

Volunteers Donna Armstrong and Donna Levinski are handling program scheduling and coordinating volunteers, respectively. “We’re very frugal,” Black says. Shelter guests continue to eat evening meals at Little River and North Myrtle Beach churches, Little River United Methodist, Ocean Drive Presbyterian, Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic, St. Stephen Episcopal and Trinity United Methodist.

“It’s going very well,” Black says of the expanded operation. “We do need more volunteers – desperately.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 10:23 AM with the headline "North Strand Housing Shelter needs more volunteers."