Meals and sleeping accommodations provided
Gilroy – Gilroy’s season homeless shelter reopened Monday, providing dinners, basic sleeping accommodations and breakfasts.
Gilroy’s shelter – located at the National Guard Armory at 8940 Wren Avenue – is part of EHC LifeBuilders, a Santa Clara County nonprofit group formerly known as the Emergency Housing Consortium. Along with Gilroy’s shelter, EHC also operates a shelter out of the National Guard Armory in Sunnyvale, which also opened Monday. Combined, the shelters serve roughly 250 homeless county residents.
The shelters operate from 6 pm to 6 am, critical to preventing serious illness as overnight temperatures dip toward freezing.
The homeless also receive support services such as medical care and English as a second language workshops.
Supportive services, such as medical care and ESL workshops, complete the program’s seasonal offerings.
“Being able to open the shelters at this time of year is crucial in providing a full continuum of support to the homeless,” said EHC LifeBuilders President and CEO, Barry Del Buono. “Getting people in off the streets when it’s so cold outside is not only life saving, but it opens the door to the array of services available to help people out of homelessness.”
EHC LifeBuilders welcomes volunteers and donations to support both shelters. Volunteers help with client intake, meal service, and other tasks. Financial donations and donations of goods such as toiletries, towels, socks, gloves, hats, VTA bus tokens, gift certificates and blankets are also accepted.
This year marks the 19th season of Cold Weather Shelters in Gilroy and Sunnyvale. For more information about EHC LifeBuilders, please visit www.ehclifebuilders.org or call (408) 539-2100.
