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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe vehicle pulled slowly into the bumpy parking lot, a black plastic trash bag taped across one window, doing the best it could to keep the cold winter air at bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After parking, a young couple stepped out to find LifeStyles of Maryland Assistant Director Corae Young waiting for them beside the large white passenger van bearing the LifeStyles logo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\u2019d been expecting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, Young joined Homeless Services Manager Jean Bazile and Client Advocate Supervisor Shavonna Butler, making their rounds across Charles County, engaging with the local homeless population and offering food, water and essentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lifestylesofmd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/PIT-Survey-3-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThis is a typical part of the organization\u2019s weekly homeless outreach, but on this day, the team had the added task of conducting the annual Point-in-Time Count, a national effort that each year attempts to estimate the number of unsheltered adults and children living in our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couple had emailed Young earlier in the day, and she asked to meet them that evening at the Bryans Road Shopping Center, the final outreach stop of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019d stayed in a hotel the night before, but most nights recently, they\u2019ve been staying in that SUV with their two children and the trash bag over the window as the January temperatures regularly dropped into the 20s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COUNTING AND SERVING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Point-in-Time Count is conducted each January, as required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Most years, LifeStyles deployed teams of volunteers from 12pm until midnight, canvassing the county and visiting known homeless encampments or anywhere else they can go to get the most accurate count of unsheltered individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it has for most everything else, the pandemic changed things this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe goal is to count the number of people who are living on our streets, but our goal is to also make sure that we serve them at the same time,\u201d Young said. \u201cThis year it's different because of COVID, so we have had to limit how many people can do outreach. Normally we have more than 100 volunteers helping with either street outreach or gathering supplies. So it\u2019s more limited this year, but we actually have a week to do the survey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the first day of the count, the LifeStyles team had completed dozens of survey forms identifying homeless individuals at stops across Waldorf, La Plata and Bryans Road. They\u2019ll do it twice more next week at locations that will be announced soon.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While the revised approach and limited volunteers may affect the accuracy of the count this year, Young said she believes the number of homeless individuals could be declining because of the extraordinary efforts that LifeStyles and other local services and organizations have made to find shelter for them during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere has been a lot of coordination of helping our homeless population this entire pandemic,\u201d she said. \u201cQuite a few of them are either in shelters or we have worked hard to get them placed in housing or with family temporarily. So we'd like to say that the majority of the reason why we have a lower count is that many of them have been offered shelter or housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ACCEPTING A HAND UP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Within minutes of arriving, the couple in the SUV also met Rene Curry, an Intake Supervisor with the Charles County Department of Social Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe asked them vital questions about how they arrived at their situation and whether there is someone we can contact to let them come and stay with them,\u201d Curry said. \u201cIt\u2019s called a homeless intake, and it\u2019s what we do every day. When it gets really cold or we have inclement weather, you have more people willing to go into shelter care. This time is our busiest time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was able to help them complete paperwork to make them eligible for a range of services and housing options. Once they have COVID tests, they will become eligible for shelter through Safe Nights or one of the other local options available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the couple completed the intake process, the LifeStyles team prepared bags with four hot meals from the Southern Maryland Food Bank, as well as nonperishable milk, cereal, hand warmers, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, hygiene items and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever comes next for this young couple and their children, they\u2019ve taken an important first step toward finding safe shelter. Now that they\u2019ve coordinated with both LifeStyles and the Department of Social Services, they\u2019ll be able to take advantage of the resources and opportunities available to them to improve their situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s that coordination that brings about the Help, Hope and Transformation that everyone is striving to achieve in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re our partner agency, so we work very closely, very hand in hand,\u201d Curry said of LifeStyles. \u201cWe need them and they need us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-events"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lifestylesofmd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/PIT-Survey-1-1024x671.jpg\")
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