Every night — as temperatures dip to the 20s and winds go moaning past sometimes at 30 miles an hour — some few people in Chestertown are sleeping outdoors with only what they can carry and windbreaks for shelter.
Nobody seems to know for sure the number, though presumed not many, alone out there in the dark.
One, according to Court Clerk Mark Mumford, has been spending his nights under benches in the Town Pavilion.
The issue of the homeless in Chestertown came up at the Town Council meeting Monday – and it appeared to sadden and shock town officials and the few in the audience who’d turned out on a frigid winter night. Homeless? In Chestertown? In this weather? What’s being done? Nobody seemed sure.
“We have some homeless-homeless,” is how it was put by Council Member Mabel Mumford-Pautz. “Thanks heavens not many. I’m not sure where they are going.”
Mayor Margo Bailey said she had been in touch with Chief Robert Edler about having his patrols check on them.
Mark Mumford spoke up to say, “One of two [that he knows about] has been sleeping under benches at the Pavilion. He’s a convicted felon who was released recently. I helped him to get a coat. He had only a thin jacket until the cold snap.”
The problem, said Mumford, is that the program run by local churches for providing shelter, known as Good Samaritan, was not set up to begin until Wednesday, Jan. 6. The blizzard, and freezing spell, came way sooner than expected.
Though not many, the homeless in Chestertown could soon increase. Speaking, as he said, as Recorder of Deeds, Mumford noted: “We have had a lot of foreclosures – a LOT of foreclosures.”
And now, the forecasts: Tuesday night 22 degrees, Wednesday night 22, Thursday night 22, Friday night 20, Saturday night 18. And more wind, maybe snow.
billa says
please follow up with the Good Samaritan Group, they can be contacted via Rick Vance at First Methodist Church.
410-778-2977
it would be great to see a follow up on your article about what is being done
they are being housed at FUMC for the months of january and february.
There is need for a local 24/7 contact for emergencies,