Manchester to Open New Day Shelter for Homeless

It's a frigid December morning.
The cafeteria at the New Horizons shelter is empty except for staff.
(Sounds of workers.)
Much of the shelter's population of about 100 has already hit the streets.
Tessier: I know they go to the library, they go to different places. I also know they go under stairwells and some of the places I knew about in my other career just to stay warm.
That's Mike Tessier.
He retired as a Manchester police captain and now he’s interim director of the shelter.
New Horizons isn't equipped to accommodate its overnight guests during the day.
But Tessier hopes that he'll soon be able to send everyone to a new Homeless Services Center just blocks away.
The city joined more than 60 agencies, religious organizations, and individuals to support the new center.
Susan Howland is the coordinator of homelesness services for Manchester and Heritage/United Way.
Howland: It's a great 5,000 square-foot facility. We can have rotating services there available to people every day, serve them lunch, do some classes, get them connected to employment opportunities, really meet them where they're at and get them the services they need.
City money and matching funds amounting to about $220,000 will get the program started.
But Howland says more is needed to make it a success.
Meanwhile, Manchester is financially strapped.
And Mayor Frank Guinta says the idea of the center is not to create a magnet for people from out of town.
Guinta: The idea here is to get people who are homeless back into homes and then replicate this successful program in other regions of the state that are also having challenges.
Helping Hands Outreach has provided the space for the center.
It’s on Central Street.
The executive director of Helping Hands is Craig Everett.
Everett: We want to have some classroom space over there. Then there'll be a library area here, thus the bookshelves anyway, so there'll be a library space and kind of a waiting area...I'm really working and hoping and planning to get a dental clinic started.
Everett says plans include laundry facilities and a few showers,
Last January, outreach workers counted 508 homeless people in Manchester.
George Miles says he’s been one of them for 5 years.
The 52 year old says he's been a cook, painter, construction worker, but now he's living under the city's bridges. He sought help at a recent event for the homeless.
Miles: I'm homeless, I'm an alcoholic, and I just need services.
But he was a bit skeptical about the idea of the new day center.
Miles: You got to, you know, you've got to put one foot in front of the other. If you don't help yourself, you know. This is great today, but you've got to get out there. You've got to pound the pavement.
That’s not Kerri Palreiro’s approach.
Palreiro says she lost her job managing a bagel shop two years ago.
Recently, she’s been getting help at Angie's Place, a transitional home for women. She's landed two part-time jobs but wants her own home.
To Palreiro, the idea of a day center sounded great.
Palreiro: I'll use the computers down there, the food, the lunches that are going to be offered. There'll be people there that I'm sure we'll be able to talk to.
Craig Everett, with Helping Hands Outreach, says the center should be able to accommodate about 100 people a day.
Everett: Our desire is to help folks to move forward...We want to very gently encourage people that there are things available to them, there are services they can avail themselves of, if they so desire, but it's not going to be a requirement. They can come in, feel safe, secure, get a noontime meal, come and go as they please.
Organizers are hoping the center will be renovated and ready to open in early 2010.
For NHPR News in Manchester, I'm Ellen Grimm..