
DATE: Monday, October 6, 1997               TAG: 9710060083

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   90 lines

FOR MANY, SHELTER KEEPS THEM OFF THE STREET

Jeraline Blount feels like Old Mother Hubbard. She has so many children, she doesn't know what to do.

The 35-year-old single mom and her eight kids have no place to call home.

For the past two weeks, Blount and six of her children have lived at the Suffolk Shelter for the Homeless. In a month, when their time's up, the big family could end up on the street.

Blount got kicked out of her last home when the landlord discovered she had twice as many children as she had indicated. Blount says she had no choice but to deceive him since nobody will rent to her once they find out how many kids she has.

``When you have one or two, you could probably find someone to stay with'' temporarily, said Brenda Galen, the shelter's executive director.

The numbers of people seeking shelter at the bright and spacious facility have increased dramatically this year, Galen said.

Last year, 124 were served, compared with 142 already this year. Since July 14, 54 have taken refuge in the Finney Avenue home.

Galen speculates that job cutbacks have left more homeless, and she worries that welfare reform will add to the ranks.

``I wonder: Have we covered all our bases?'' she asked. ``Child care and transportation, for example.''

The shelter is a designated United Way of South Hampton Roads agency, which means that people making donations must specify that their money go to the facility. Last year, the shelter received some $12,000 from United Way, whose campaign is under way. The shelter's budget for 1997-98 is $122,500, up about 25 percent over last year's budget.

United Way is nearly one-third of the way to reaching its goal of $15.5 million.

The Suffolk Shelter for the Homeless is the only one in the state built from the ground up with donations and volunteers, Galen said proudly. The two-story brick structure with six bedrooms can serve 36 people simultaneously -, though last Friday, only 14 were in residence.

The facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. It employs seven people, three full time.

The facility also gets funds through the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which formed the shelter's first board of directors. It serves folks in Isle of Wight County, Smithfield, Franklin and Courtland as well as Suffolk. The only populations it does not serve are single males and the battered and abused.

Since 1991, when the shelter was built, it has housed 1,090 people.

Galen said her board hopes to build a dorm for single men soon.

Blount has never ended up on the street, but Lisa Flowers, another resident, has.

The 26-year-old mother of one slept in her car for two weeks before turning to the shelter for help. She'd come to Suffolk from Albany, N.Y., to stay with a cousin.

But that didn't work out, and she found herself jobless with no place to live.

Flowers has landed a job and is looking for more work. She tends bar, and she waitresses days. And her new employer lets her bring her 3-year-old son, Brian, to work, where he plays in a back room. If she finds additional employment, Blount will baby-sit.

Child care is a real obstacle to finding work, Galen said. She plans to apply for a grant from a local foundation that will fund slots in child-care centers so that shelter residents can look for jobs and get back on their feet.

Blount also stayed at the shelter four years ago when her home burned down.

``If not for the shelter, I wouldn't have had anyplace to go'' this time or last, she said.

Galen had hoped to get Blount on a waiting list for a Habitat for Humanity house but admits ``it looks like a long shot.'' It would be wonderful, she said, if someone would offer her a place she could afford that would house her big family.

Blount gets disability payments and said she can pay about $400 a month.

Meanwhile, two of Blount's children are staying with relatives in a Suffolk public housing neighborhood as she hunts a job and hopes for help. Blount herself used to live in public housing but moved out because of crime and violence. ILLUSTRATION: MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

Single mother Jeraline Blount, shown with her son Michael, has been

living with six of her eight children at the Suffolk Shelter for the

Homeless. In a month, when the Blounts' term ends, they could be

forced onto the street.

1997 UNITED WAY GOAL

SOURCE: United Way

DETAILS

For details on the shelter, call 934-1353. For details on United

Way, call 629-0500.