TOMAHAWK – Back in 2013, on the heels of the recession and housing crisis that left many Americans in deep crisis and without shelter, a group of concerned citizens in Tomahawk decided to help.
The first meeting to establish a shelter in Tomahawk was in June 2013, headed by Pastor John Anderson from St. Mary’s Catholic Church and Pastor Ross Nelson from Vineyard Church. In 2013 and 2014, the group held monthly meetings, became incorporated as Three Rivers United Temporary Housing (TRUTH), applied for non-profit status, began a public awareness campaign and started fundraising. Federal non-profit status was granted in May 2014.
A few months later, in October 2014, a lease was signed with St. Mary’s Church and the Diocese of Superior, and the former Sisters’ residence next door to the church began the transformation into a homeless shelter. The big old building, originally constructed in 1887, underwent major renovations and on Oct. 5, 2015, opened its doors as Our Sisters’ House Temporary Housing Shelter.
The name was chosen to honor the building’s past history while moving forward as a non-denominational shelter open to people of all walks of life.
The goal, simply stated, is to end homelessness in northern Wisconsin.
Why does a small community in northern Wisconsin even need a shelter? Do we really have homeless people in our town? The answer, of course, is yes.
While homelessness in cities attracts far more attention, nearly 60% of Wisconsin’s unsheltered population is in our rural counties, yet rural counties receive only 25% of the state funding dedicated to fighting homelessness.
Lincoln County is no exception. Rural homelessness is not as visible as urban homelessness – we’ve taken in persons who’ve lost fingers or toes to frostbite while living in unheated hunting shacks and families who were living in campgrounds. “Homeless” can mean completely unhoused, or it can mean living in a place not suitable for year-round habitation.
In 10 years of operation, the shelter has seen hundreds of individuals and families pass through its doors. Early on, the founders decided to operate the shelter not just as a place to go for a night to get out of the cold, but as a place where people could go to truly get on their feet and make meaningful changes to their lives.
To that end, persons can reside at Our Sisters’ House for up to 90 days while they find employment, apply for needed social services and save up money to obtain housing. Our founders understood that to solve the problem of being unsheltered, we must address the factors that lead to homelessness in the first place. We employ a Case Manager and staff who, from the moment a client enters the shelter, are trained to figure out why someone became homeless in the first place and to help solve those issues so as to improve the chances that when the client exits the shelter they will be able to maintain a stable, permanently housed lifestyle.
Using our “Side-by-Side Case Management” approach to solving homelessness provides the highest chance of success for our clients. We work at the most basic, fundamental level of homelessness – one-on-one with the person or family experiencing homelessness.
So who do we serve? How do people in northern Wisconsin become homeless? The answer to that different for every person, which is why we have to take an individual approach to each client.
There are some generalizations to be made, however. Persons experiencing homelessness are more likely than the general population to have been victims of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. They’re more likely to be experiencing medical problems, including mental illness.
Roughly half of our clientele is senior citizens, who come with their own set of issues. We’ve hosted seniors who’ve lost housing simply because they weren’t able to navigate an online rent payment system, resulting in eviction, and seniors who have lost everything to online scams. A significant percentage of senior clients are on the autistic spectrum, but have struggled throughout their lives without an actual diagnosis. Now they are elders struggling to live on a fixed income without any type of social safety net.
In a place like Tomahawk, where affordable housing is in critically short supply, having an eviction on one’s record can make it impossible to qualify for rental housing, including subsidized housing – even if the eviction simply resulted from an inability to pay rent via a complicated online system.
We have navigated all of these problems with our clients over the years, guided by one underlying principle – shelter is a basic human need and every person has the right to adequate housing.
For anyone who wants to help, the shelter has volunteer opportunities available, including fundraising and serving on the Board of Directors. We gladly accept donations of household supplies, like groceries and cleaning products, and of course we truly appreciate monetary donations.
Our Sisters’ House operates entirely on grants, support from local businesses and religious organizations and donations from private individuals. Government funding, never more than 5% of our budget, has completely dried up over the last few years, so we rely entirely on our wonderful community for funding.
Moving someone from homelessness to housed doesn’t just benefit that individual. A housed person becomes part of the community – someone who pays taxes, shops locally, attends community functions or works for a local business.
As we enter our second decade, we’re looking forward to making Tomahawk a better place for everyone, including the most vulnerable members of our community. As long as there are people in need, we hope to be here to help!
Our Sisters’ House is located at 328 E. Washington Ave. in Tomahawk.
To learn more about the shelter, call 715-224-3520 or email Oursistershouse.truth@gmail.com.
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