Editorial Roundup: Indiana

Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Jan. 29, 2021. Editorial: Reaching deeper to find and help the vulnerable The phrase ‘œfall between the cracks’� accurately describes people unreached by existing sources of help. A pandemic has widened those cracks. More people are falling between the gaps because of despair, isolation and job losses. Too often, friends, neighbors and coworkers find out only after something dire happens. Some of those folks get addicted to drugs or alcohol. Others wind up homeless. Some face both predicaments. Two efforts revved up this week to connect the homeless and addicted to services in the Wabash Valley. Though separate, the projects target a widening sea of people in need in Terre Haute and the surrounding region. Both could use a boost of support from a community that already has given so much since COVID-19 began sweeping through America last March. On Thursday, two advocates for addiction services issued a plea for donations to recovery agencies and shelters. Two facilities were on the brink of closure from a lack of funds. Wabash Valley Recovery Center Director Christy Crowder and Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt explained that the nonprofit support groups rely on contributions and are struggling. A day earlier, advocates for the homeless ventured through Vigo County to conduct a pandemic-modified Point-in-Time Count. The annual winter process strives to enumerate people living outdoors, or in non-habitable shelters like abandoned houses, vehicles and RVs parked in vacant lots. The co-chairs of the Homeless Council of the Wabash Valley – Bethany House Director Danielle Elkins and Vigo County Commissioner Brendan Kearns – led other volunteers to find people in those situations. That survey process continues through today. The ranks of the homeless and addicted have grown in 2020 and 2021. That growth puts stress on assistance facilities and programs. ‘œThe last year has been tough on everybody, especially people who struggle with addictions,’� said Crowder, the Recovery Center director. ‘œSo much has been cut off because of COVID-19.’� Two Terre Haute recovery facilities nearly closed in December, lacking funds to pay utilities and operation costs. Prosecutor Modesitt explained that the governmental legal system – namely jails and prisons – cannot provide recovery programs that guide the addicted back to sober, productive lifestyles. Treatment also can prevent addicts from committing crimes to buy more substances. Several recovery outlets get support from churches. Construction firm Thompson Thrift also took on a three-year commitment to renovate the Next Step Foundation residential recovery facility at Sixth and Washington streets. Interested donors can contact one of nearly a dozen local recovery nonprofits by phone. Those include: The Avenues, 812-229-1632; Club Gobi, 812-232-4144; Club Soda, 812-841-6349; House of Hope, 812-446-1717; Odyssey House, 812-298-3125; Next Step, 812-917-5006; Ruth House, 812-699-9831; Salvaged Lives, 812-232-1700; Truman House, 812-229-7244; Wabash Valley Recovery Center, 812-917-0068; and Wabash Valley Teen Challenge, 812-624-5679. The Point in Time Count of the homeless is a survey required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine federal funding to communities for housing assistance and shelters. Because of COVID-19 precautions, the counters could not set up hubs in city parks, where homeless people could pick up food, clothing and supplies. So, volunteers visited common areas, where the homeless often live in cars or wooded places like the Wabash River front. Through those contacts, the needy received necessities and got counted.