Money Woes To End Freehold-Area Winter Overnight Program For Men

FREEHOLD, NJ — The Winter Overnight Program for men will end after 19 years due to ever-increasing transportation and security costs, the Emergency Housing and Advocacy Program Inc. announced Thursday.

And that leaves western Monmouth County without a resource to help men who need assistance with overnight housing in the upcoming cold-weather months.

The program relied on local houses of worship to transport, feed and house up to 12 men on a nightly rotating basis from December through March each year, "keeping the men safe and focused on their goals," EHAP said.

The agency headquarters is at 41 Throckmorton St. in the borough.

“We started the program because there were so many homeless people in the Freehold area living on the streets or in their cars,” Joan Mandel, EHAP’s executive director and a founder of the program, recalled. “It’s almost impossible to recover without intensive case management and the knowledge that someone cares about you.”

After the pandemic, the men exhibited more complex mental health, addiction and cognitive impairments – sometimes all three.

Paid security guards were hired to oversee the overnight stays, making sure basic rules were followed and providing a sense of security to both clients and volunteers, said Nina Rizzo, director of operations at EHAP.

And transporting 12 men to the shelters and back to the EHAP center also was becoming prohibitively expensive, Rizzo added, especially needing to fill in volunteer gaps during and after the pandemic.

The program is only for overnights, so men would be transported back to the EHAP hub each morning and then either work or use the agency's office to look for jobs and arrange for other services.

She said the shortfall amount is about $60,000, making the overnight program untenable this year.

The program relied on government grants, funding and volunteers from faith-based institutions, and individual donations to operate each year. That funding hasn't changed - but costs rose.

"Despite arduous attempts to find additional funding, organizers recently accepted that there is no way to open for a 20th season," the agency said in the announcement.

Advocates "stunned"

“I’m stunned it’s come down to this,” Adriana Crump, an EHAP board member and longtime program volunteer, said. “I think about the men who’ll have no place to go this winter. It’ll be heartbreaking when they find out.”

There are a limited number of beds in the Monmouth County Adult Shelter at Fort Monmouth and at Jersey Shore Rescue Mission in Asbury Park.

And Rizzo pointed out that programs usually involve overnight stays - not permanent housing.

Organizers worry there won’t be enough beds to accommodate all the homeless men in the county this winter, and, worse, there will be no shelter beds at all in western Monmouth County.

The county is working to establish Code Blue Centers, which would operate only on nights when temperatures dip to 32 degrees or below, Rizzo said.

But Mandel wondered, “Where will the men sleep all those other dangerously cold nights? I am extremely concerned about their well-being.”

Winter Overnight beginnings

The program began in 2003, when a small group of Open Door food pantry volunteers became concerned about gaps in social services.

Volunteers Jim Benedict, Stan Rosenthal, Mandel and others helped organize a soup kitchen at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, offering lunch four days per week.

Then the need for a place to sleep gave rise to the Winter Overnight Program.

The program’s founding members included John DiSpada and his wife, Ramona Pappas, Rosenthal and Mandel.

They created a framework for the program based on state regulations for a “hospitality” program and presented their idea to the Freehold Clergy Association for financial and material support.

The association embraced the program for many years, and eventually encouraged the organizers to create their own 501(c)3 organization.

The Advocacy Center

EHAP’s mission became two-fold when the new nonprofit opened an office in downtown Freehold, next to Open Door, in 2017.

They would operate the Winter Overnight Program for homeless men and run a year ’round Advocacy Center that provides free casework for anyone who is homeless or struggling with housing insecurity.

Advocacy includes limited rental assistance, housing and employment searches, application for identification documents and safety net benefits, and linkages to medical, mental health, legal and addiction services.

The center also provides clients with comfort from harsh weather and a steady supply of donated toiletries, foods and blankets.

Rizzo said those making use of all these services include roughly 220 unique clients monthly, with an average of 200 office appointments and 100 phone consultations each month.

"Many of those phone calls were from non-clients with desperate requests for rental assistance," Rizzo said.

EHAP is currently in the process of doubling the size of its Advocacy Center to address the complex needs of its growing clientele.

A fundraiser will be held Oct. 27 at Holzer Farm in Millstone to support the building project. To learn more about the capital campaign and other ways you can support the mission, visit https://www.ehapinc.org/donate.

Volunteer efforts

EHAP continued to rely on the clergy association and its members to serve as host sites and supply volunteers who would prepare meals, stay overnight with the men and transport them back and forth from the nightly intake center at St. Peter’s Church in downtown Freehold.

Some of the host sites were: the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine and Hope Lutheran, both in Freehold Township; Temple Shaari Emeth in Manalapan; St. Peter's Episcopal Church; and St. Veronica's and Jerseyville Methodist Church, both in Howell. Subsequent hosts included: First United Methodist Church, the now-defunct Grace Lutheran Church and Christian Science Church (now DIBRA), all in Freehold Borough; Faith Evangelical Church in Freehold Township; and St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Millstone. Other houses of worship helped over the years by providing monetary support as well as meals, bicycles and supplies for the men, the agency said

About 400 men over the past 19 years – approximately 18 to 29 men each season – participated in the program, Mandel estimated. Under state rules, the program was limited to 12 men per night and limited the number of days each host site could house the men per season.

Board member Harry Domke had been the site organizer at St. Robert Bellarmine for 17 years. He’s had countless conversations with clients over the years and recalls one theme: gratitude, the agency noted.

"Gratitude for having a hot meal, dinner conversation, and a warm and welcoming place to sleep each night during a cold winter,” he said.

Mandel noted that the program has had many successes in helping the men stabilize their lives. “We are keenly aware that it is a team effort between EHAP and the individual,” she said.

The agency can be contacted by phone at 732-431-2600 or visit www.ehapinc.org.