November 12, 2024
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McHenry County volunteers conduct annual count of homeless in community

Volunteers will visit area shelters, libraries, train stations, hospitals, churches and other congregate settings

By Emily K. Coleman
Rocio Nevarez, a community health worker for the McHenry County Department of Health, goes through a bag of supplies that includes face masks, hand sanitizers, a rescue blanket and first aid kit. The bags were available for clients during an Empower Shower event at Willow Crystal Lake on Friday, Aug. 20, 2021, in Crystal Lake. The event gathers multiple agencies with resources to help the homeless.

Rocio Nevarez, a community health worker for the McHenry County Department of Health, goes through a bag of supplies that includes face masks, hand sanitizers, a rescue blanket and first aid kit. The bags were available for clients during an Empower Shower event at Willow Crystal Lake on Friday, Aug. 20, 2021, in Crystal Lake. The event gathers multiple agencies with resources to help the homeless. (Matthew Apgar/Matthew Apgar)

The McHenry County Continuum of Care to End Homelessness will conduct its annual point-in-time count of the local homeless population the evening of Feb. 18.

The count seeks to reveal a snapshot that provides planners and social service agencies with information they can use to understand not just the number of homeless, but also who they are and why they are homeless, according to a news release. McHenry County’s count is just one of more than 400 undertaken during the winter by Continuum of Care organizations nationwide, covering more than 3,000 cities and counties.

Volunteers will visit area shelters, libraries, train stations, hospitals, churches and other congregate settings, as well as the Community Empower Shower taking place that day at the Crystal Lake branch of Willow Creek Community Church.

The data will be used to understand changes in trends among homeless populations, adjust services to their needs, justify requests for additional resources or changes to existing programming, measure progress toward preventing homelessness, and comply with reporting requirements from federal, state and local agencies, according to the release.

During last year’s count, volunteers identified 49 people experiencing homelessness, three of whom were children and three who were between the ages of 18 and 24, according to the 2021 report. Seven of the people were considered chronically homeless, which means they’ve been homeless for at least a year.

The number from the count is always lower than the county’s actual homeless population, said Sam Tenuto, the co-chief executive officer at Pioneer Center for Human Services.

The survey process has provided strong collaboration over the years among many local providers and helped them understand local needs related to homelessness, Tenuto said. The people who are surveyed also are provided information about local resources with the aim to bring stability to their lives.

It “also brings community awareness to an important need within our community,” he said.

For more information about the upcoming count, contact Tenuto at 815-759-7143 or by email at stenuto@pioneercenter.org.

Willow Crystal Lake, 100 S. Main St., Crystal Lake, holds its Empower Shower from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every first and third Friday of the month to provide the homeless with access to laundry, showers, food and rental assistance, the COVID-19 vaccine and other resources. To learn more, contact Julie Davis at jadavis@willowcreek.org.

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