Beds open but supplies running low at Sauk Valley shelters

Homeless shelters are preparing for winter and making a call to the community for donations.

At the two PADS Homeless Shelters in Dixon, executive director Terra Lorenzen said that some of their materials have been running low, especially cleaning supplies.

“Donations have been down this year, material donations,” she said.

At the Twin Cities PADS Shelter in Sterling, the main supply running low is Lysol.

“They make two different kinds, the regular Lysol spray and a fabric spray that doesn’t damage the stuff you spray it on,” executive director Myles Newberry said. “We use that to spray the couches and the beds and any surface that might need a little disinfecting we’ve just been spraying in addition to doing an overall wipe-down, but they’re all sold out a lot of times. It’s a precious commodity right now.”

Newberry said paper towels are in short supply as the shelter continues to clean all the time.

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Dixon PADS shelter deals with the pandemic A current resident at the shelter, Jeremy Gilmore talks about the struggles to get needed paperwork from the state due to office shutdowns.

But the shelters are not as crowded as they often are this time of year, likely from a measure put in place last month by Gov. JB Pritzker.

“Right now, I think in the Phase 3 in the state, residents can’t be evicted right now,” Newberry said. “A lot of people are just hunkered down, so we’re not seeing as much traffic as we would normally, because a lot of people are just staying put.”

The eviction moratorium, put in place with the initial wave of COVID-19 restrictions, was extended through Jan. 9. In order to take advantage, residents must give a written declaration to their landlord saying that they’ve had an economic hardship and will not earn more than $99,000 in 2020.

“A lot of people that call, I educate them on the resources to not get evicted,” Lorenzen said.

The economic hardships followed in the footsteps of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in closed businesses and work lost.

But the pandemic has spared the shelters in Dixon, where Lorenzen said there has not been a case, and she is able to keep her hopes up that that track record can continue.

“We just monitor everybody’s health in the house,” Lorenzen said. “We keep more anti-bacterial stuff available and sprays and always provide masks if they’re needing them, and the health department has been great about keeping those in stock.”

The pandemic is affecting some of the volunteers, with Newberry saying many of the volunteers at the Twin Cities shelter are elderly and high risk.

“We’ve had to rely more on our staff to keep the shelter open,” he said. “We want everybody, including our volunteers, to feel safe coming in. I get it. COVID is kind of scary and everybody is trying to play it safe. I went from having 100-150 volunteers on a regular basis to maybe 10 or 12 of our hardcore volunteers that just don’t want to give it up for any reason, so the rest of the time it’s our staff covering the shelter.”

Donations to Twin Cities PADS can be made on the shelter’s website at twincitiespads.org. Volunteer sign-up sheets are available on the website. Prospective volunteers also can call the shelter line at 815-626-2210 or send a message via the Facebook page.

Donations can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays at the women’s shelter, 203 W. Everett St., in Dixon. Find Dixon PADS on Facebook or call 815-288-6818 for more information.