Homeless families speak out on shelter evictions; lack of help

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Editor, the News-Herald:

We the women, heads of the five homeless families that were evicted from the homeless shelter (so they could be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday), are sitting here Sunday morning very concerned. We know Social Services stated on the news and in the newspapers that they would help us with housing, as did the City of Suffolk. We on the other hand see a different story than what was put in the papers and on the news.

We wonder, with the city offices closed from Wednesday mid day through to Monday morning, what they can get done in that short amount of time?

Email newsletter signup

SRHA says they can’t do anything because they have an almost two year waiting list. Seems I thought they were supposed to help families in emergencies. Seems Social Services has called and talked to everyone they can in the city of Suffolk to see who has something and they said &uot;they can’t find anything for us&uot;.

At this point not one of the churches within the city of Suffolk has knocked on our doors or called my number at 757-675-1405 to offer any help at all. We have a few persons who came by with a few things. It has been a job day by day to find food for the kids and things to keep them all busy.

Seems no one is concerned about five families within our city in the streets at this time of the year.

If someone has some information or donations they can contact me, Holly.

I am the spokeswoman for the families including my own. It’s hard to sit down n tell your kids you don’t know where we are going to be or if we are going to have somewhere to go Tuesday morning.

Is this the way the city of Suffolk wants to be thought of? We wonder.

Holly Parker

Suffolk