Fond du Lac, WI (WTAQ) – The Solutions Center homeless shelter in Fond du Lac is a safe haven for dozens of homeless people. But Tuesday, some were forced to leave early and head out into the cold. Jimmie Godfrey was one of them. “I stay there because right now I have no place to go.”
The director at Solutions Center, Nicole Johnson, says the cold weather has put them at or above capacity with all of their beds full. And they’ve also been very short staffed. Johnson says “I pulled an extra 14 hour shift last night myself to make sure that we were open.”
Staffing is so limited right now, the center says it had to consider closing down for some days this week and next week. So leaders at Saint Paul Episcopal Cathedral, the building that hosts Solutions Center, is working on a back up plan so a situation like what happened Tuesday doesn’t happen again.
Father Brian Beno with the Cathedral says “I was fairly confident that one way or another, we’d make it work. I was concerned for the people, especially if they’re on the street, it’s cold.”
He says they have an extra room in their building, where people can stay, overnight, if the Solutions Center ever does need to close. It’s been checked out by the Fond du Lac fire department and is good to go.
The shelter’s director says they’re doing everything they can to stay open, no matter how thin they are stretched.
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