Oct. 1 is the first day of the season for Bethel Winter House, the community’s cold-weather overnight shelter.
Bethel Winter House director Jaela Milford spoke with KYUK’s Mathew Hunter about the first day of operations on morning show "Coffee at KYUK" on Sept. 30.
“I've been preparing for this new season by gathering supplies, paying employees for my night monitors, and just trying to gather donations and anything that the community wants to provide to the shelter,” Milford said.
Bethel Winter House is open from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night between October and April each year. It provides dinner and breakfast, and a warm place to sleep, shower, and do laundry for people who are chronically unhoused or find themselves without a place to stay during the winter months. It’s located at the old senior center building at 127 Atsaq Street in Bethel's Housing neighborhood.
Milford said that at the beginning of the season, she’s thinking a lot about the shelter’s capacity. Last year, Bethel Winter House blew past its previous records for both nightly capacity and number of people served over the course of the winter.
“In previous years we've hit around 250, and that was a good number, but last year was a huge exception,” Milford said. “We hit over 400 individuals that came to the shelter that year. So that was a huge jump.”
Milford said that the shelter hasn’t yet reached its limit on a night-to-night basis. Last year, the highest-occupancy night at Bethel Winter House was 62 individuals. But Milford said that even if the numbers are pushing the building’s capacity, the goal is to not have to turn anyone away.
“It's hard being homeless or without a permanent residency, especially I know here [there’s] a lot of overcrowding, a lot of people are staying with friends and family and bouncing around,” Milford said. “And so I just want people to know that we are a very stable resource. We are here and we always welcome you if you ever need that shelter.”
Milford said that throughout the winter, Bethel Winter House accepts donations of volunteer time, money, and of supplies for running the shelter.
“We are always in need of things like fresh produce, bread, coffee, as for the food stuff,” Milford said. “And then similar to other products, maybe like laundry detergent and Kleenex, is bowls and cups, anything that we have to use every day to make sure that we're maintaining a healthy and hygienic facility.”
The Bethel Winter House facility has space for volunteers to do intake surveys with the people utilizing services, as well as for cooking meals at the shelter. Milford also said that Bethel Winter House is hiring a full-time cook, night monitors, and other paid positions.
On Oct. 1, Milford said that the shelter will open at 4 p.m. to allow shelter staff and volunteers to hopefully avoid the rush that can come with the first day of the season.
This article contains reporting from KYUK's Mathew Hunter.
