United Way of the Plains is looking for volunteers to help with the annual Point-In-Time Homeless Count, which is coming up in January.
The count is a national effort that is done every year to estimate the number of Americans who don’t have safe and stable housing. The count information is used by the local Impact ICT Continuum of Care to make local funding decisions, study trends and increase awareness about people who are experiencing chronic homelessness.
The United Way is the lead agency for the Continuum of Care, with 21 organizations and over 330 individuals working to address issues of homelessness.
The Point-In-Time Homeless Count is scheduled for Thursday, January 25th from 5 a.m. to noon. United Way is looking for 100 volunteers, and each one will be trained and teamed with an experienced professional. Data collection teams will talk to homeless persons face-to-face and gather information that can be used to help them get into a safer and more stable environment.
People who are interested in volunteering can get more information on United Way’s volunteer website at unitedwayplains.org and the deadline to volunteer is January 5th. Training will take place in early January.
In the last count in January, results showed a total of 702 homeless people in Wichita and Sedgwick County, compared to 690 the previous year.
