by Contributor | April 14, 2020 11:18 am
By: Shea O’Malley
OSWEGO COUNTY – Commercials blare all day long, reminding viewers to remain at home and wash their hands frequently; casting light on the elderly and immuno-compromised’s extreme susceptibility in catching the coronavirus. Yet, we hear little about some of the most vulnerable within our communities: the homeless.
“We do have a significant issue in the county. I don’t think people realize it because it looks different,” said Mary-Margaret Pekow, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Oswego County. “A lot of time they’re down by the bridges in their tents and stuff, if you really go down and look.”
To slow the grip the virus has gained across New York state, all non-essential businesses, schools, parks and recreation venues have closed, with stay-at-home orders for all citizens.
Without the luxury of multiple media sources, the homeless are at a huge disadvantage. Besides looking for a safe place to sleep and food to eat, the homeless may be clueless about the deadly virus spreading within their communities.
However, Oswego County is stepping up to help. Various programs throughout the county are reaching out to the homeless, senior citizens and other vulnerable populations.
Oswego County Opportunities has an outreach program for the homeless, providing support and services to the displaced.
“OCO is also able to provide street outreach on a limited basis to individuals that are street homeless to try to connect them to services,” said Jill Brzuskiewicz, OCO Homeless Services Continuum of Care Program Manager. “What this looks like, is that if we receive a hotline call about someone that might be homeless and sleeping outside, we will put together some food and warm items and try to talk to the individual.”
Food scarcity is also a problem, for both the homeless and displaced workers affected by the COVID-19 shutdowns. The United Way of Oswego County is helping to provide relief to area communities.
“Our role in the community – we are the fund-raising arm for health and human service programs across our county,” said Patrick Dewine, Executive Director at United Way of Greater Oswego County. “We provide funding for targeted programs that allow direct services to the community.
Catholic Charities provides food to many places hard hit by the economic downturn and school closures.
“What a lot of the times we do, is we prepare all the homeless food bags,” Pekow said. “So, we are delivering food all over the county for people in need, and we’ve been delivering to the people sheltered in some of the complexes.”
211, a free referral and information hotline providing health and human service support nationwide, is a resource available for people experiencing various hardships.
“That kind of takes away the burden of people calling 911. And during times of crisis like what we’re in, it’s a great resource,” said Dewine. “A lot of our frontline workers utilize this resource as well, because it’s just a quick phone call and it puts people in connection with those programs.”
Throughout the pandemic, one of the biggest concerns besides social distancing is safe quarantine measures.
“We don’t have a shelter, per se, like the Rescue Mission,” Pekow said. “I know the county has been working with the legislators and stuff in regard to housing options, and particularly if someone has to get quarantined that doesn’t either have a house or doesn’t have a place that they can go.”
Please contact the resources listed below for help in your community:
“The numbers one calls to 211 revolved around food insecurity. So, people are trying to find out what information [there is] on where to get food,” said Dewine. “211 has always been instrumental whenever there is a crisis.”
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