
At many colleges, college athletes in Division I programs create the strongest beats in campus life. Throughout history college sports have led students to show greater...
The Butler County Homeless Initiative (BHI), also known as Refuge in the Storm El Dorado (RISE), is a homeless shelter in El Dorado supporting those in need. They help to acquire identification cards, assist with housing applications, resumes and employment applications. In addition, they also partner with other community organizations for addiction treatment and mental health care. For Thanksgiving, they are arranging a big meal for those at the shelter, although the non-profit organization does this all year-round, too.
Hollie Jimenez is the shelter manager, and Sue Schulte is the assistant shelter manager. This year, on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 28, they will provide a full Thanksgiving meal for all their guests.
With homelessness, there are always challenges that they have to overcome.
“If we can't find a certain resource we need, or then also, obviously, like in the wintertime, being able to house people overnight, yeah, we can't do that unless to a certain degree,” Jimenez said. “And so that's kind of challenging on some nights too, whenever, especially like, like last week, when it was all rainy and stuff like that, nobody had wanted to sleep in those conditions outside, but we were. We had to send people out because we cannot open unless we're below 40 degrees. Those are a lot of our challenges during the wintertime.”
Although there are misconceptions with any group of people, BHI said that homeless people are people, too, who deserve the same, the same dedication and the same respect that others do like the rich. They add that we all have barriers in life. A lot of people are blessed to have people to help them to those barriers where a lot of their guests don't have that.
“… that is what separates them from a lot of people that you know; it's hard to go through a failure without somebody to push you along or to support you, and without failures, you can't succeed,” Jimenez said and Schulte added. “If you can't have somebody to be on your side too, it just keeps you down, and then once you get down, it's just a snowball effect as well. I think more people would realize that it's more beneficial for somebody to care than to criticize and for them to know that there's a lot of people that are one paycheck away from.”
BHI provides multiple services, such as laundry and food, showers, the YMCA and the applications for housing. The organization also partners with other agencies such as Vocational Rehabilitation as well as Adult Protective Services.
“We work with a lot of different services, because everybody coming in, has a different story,” Jimenez said. “We just try to figure out what they need, how we can help them and we go from there. Our services aren't limited to what we've already done, because if we need something else, we'll definitely jump out and keep going to help wherever we can.”
During Thanksgiving, BHI pushes the tables together to make it more like a family dinner, complete with pies, turkey, green bean casserole, dressing and more. There are also El Dorado residents who volunteer and donate meals.
BHI is always looking for volunteers, to assist with the overnight shifts and to stay up overnight so that their guests can get a good night's sleep. Residents can also donate canned goods as well as other products.
Schulte and Jimenez enjoy working with BHI.
“The reward when somebody gets housed, it makes you feel nice, warm and fuzzy inside that you are able to help somebody achieve out of homelessness,” Schulte said. “You help them pick themselves up out of the gutter and bring them to an active, successful member of the society.”
It's rewarding just to be able to share their gift with other people to help them in any route that they may need, according to both shelter managers. Schulte and Jimenez said there's no limit on who BHI is willing to help because they don't have a limitation.
“We will help whoever needs our help,” Jimenez said. “Yeah, and the small steps, like, people who haven't had a job in a couple years, they finally become employed, just little steps that make their progress in life. We're there to support it, and we celebrate those little milestones. Yeah, you find their barriers and conquer them with it, just like a support system should.”
“Just think of the homeless all year round,” Jimenez said. “Yeah, not just all days, you know. We are a very, very blessed by community support, and like the mills being brought in, the volunteers that come in and do different services for us. We are very thankful for all of our volunteers and all of our partners too. But if there is anybody that has anything, a gift or a talent that wants to come help us, we are more than welcome to or they're more than welcome to come. We don't want to turn away anybody that would like to help somebody.”
If you would like to help with BHI, call (316) 202-8378 or visit https://rise-eldorado.org
At many colleges, college athletes in Division I programs create the strongest beats in campus life. Throughout history college sports have led students to show greater...
Spring break is an ideal time to visit and travel to different places as there are many activities and eventful things can be enjoyed. Many take spring break trips, or...