Shawano emergency homeless shelter outgrows its space | The Compass

In 2015, a Shawano community group organized and leased a vacant building to house and feed homeless people and families during Wisconsin’s winter nights. Today, the emergency shelter in this city of 9,000 is already too small. A real plus is that because of its previous uses, bedrooms are already in place in the building and will need only minor updating to be ready for guests, according to Culhane. “It suited what we need as a place for people to live,” Bisterfeldt said on a recent tour of the facility. “If people have their basic needs met, they can work on the others things they need to work on,” she said. That’s one of the reasons Shawano resident Addison Lewis, a UW-Green Bay student, chose to intern with SAM25. Following his family tradition of volunteering with nonprofit groups, he said, “I liked that SAM25 gives people the opportunity to get back on their feet.” Source: Shawano emergency homeless shelter outgrows its space | The Compass