'People have really stepped up': Local residents work to make Winter House a reality

As the Oxford Area Solutions for Housing (OASH) organization and local faith community prepares to open the doors of its cold shelter, the Oxford Winter House, on Dec. 1, there are still a few steps, and items, it needs.

OASH board members spoke during a meeting on Nov. 17 about how the community has been offering to help.

For the winters of 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS) partnered with local hotels and rented out blocks of rooms to people experiencing homelessness during the months of November through February. But TOPSS announced in July it would no longer be able to continue this service, citing financial and staffing strains and an ineffective model, as previously reported by the Oxford Free Press.

Anne Bailey, OASH board member, told the Oxford Free Press, after TOPSS found it could no longer sustain its cold shelter solution, the board was approached by Assistant City Manager Jessica Greene, who asked if the local faith community could take over the project if the city provided funding.

During the past winter, TOPSS served nearly 50 people and used most of its funding by the beginning of February. It was unsure it could continue to provide shelter until the end of the month.

Originally, Bailey said a group composed of OASH and local church members proposed using fellowship halls as temporary shelters and contacted numerous pastors in the city. But people would need to relocate as they cycled through each church involved, and none of the churches had showers. Bailey said this would ultimately mean disrupting other functions at the church.

During this time, the group also looked at several rental properties in the area. Finally, Brian Urell, owner of Fedora Transportation, agreed to the group using his building, located at 5223 College Corner Pike, for free during the months of December through February.

The project was given $70,000 from the city in October, and the group got to work on remodeling. 

As renovations are being completed, volunteers are spending their days collecting names of people to bring meals each night the shelter is open, building a website, writing 50 pages worth of policies for the occupants and donating money, equipment, food, time and effort.

The group also gained access to an Airbnb to use for a family in need, and one volunteer has offered his barn for storage.

OASH meeting attendees were told Oxford City Councilor Chantel Raghu, a veterinarian at the Oxford Veterinary Hospital, has volunteered space and supplies for the pets of shelter occupants. Raghu also offered to give vaccines to pets at a cost to the group. 

The City of Oxford Fire Department has agreed to provide first aid and CPR certification training to volunteers free of charge.

The Oxford Vineyard Church has agreed to be the fiscal agent for the project, for which local residents have gathered each month to brainstorm ideas, hear from experts and problem solve in preparation.

According to a sign-up sheet on the OASH website, 59 slots to provide dinner have already been filled by local churches, organizations, individuals and businesses like Skyline Chili, Phan Shin and LaRosa’s Pizza. 

Others have chosen to sign up to be on-site, playing games and providing conversation for shelter occupants, or donate physical items like air purifiers, backpacks, a coffee pot, face masks and feminine hygiene products.

“It takes a village, right,” OASH board member Ann Fuehrer said during the Nov. 17 meeting.

Fuehrer reported the Oxford Winter House has received over $13,000 in individual donations and has pledged commitments of another $43,000.

Fuehrer was formerly the executive director of TOPSS and said in July she, along with OASH and the local faith community “cannot live in a community where people are going to be freezing in their tents in the winter.”

Now, she says she can see the Oxford Winter House succeeding.

“The people who were involved in it have a lot of commitment,” she said, describing the many people who have contributed to making the shelter possible by either giving advice or taking action. “People have really stepped up.”

She said although “there are a lot of uncertainties,” especially as the shelter will only be able to accept 16 occupants at any given time, everyone’s efforts has made her “optimistic.”

Fuehrer said, in order to have a sustainable model for the future, the Oxford Winter House will need a significant donation each year to stay open for those three winter months.

“It’s also going to take the kind of people that we have been attracting,” she said, adding donations have been rolling in from people who may have lost a loved one or wanted to give back to the community in some form. 

“We knew there were a lot of resources out there, and it was a matter of finding a way of saying to the people who had the money, who had the personal commitment and family reason for doing it, ‘Yes, here’s something that you can control … to spend your money in ways that really represent your commitment to Oxford as a community,’” she said.

“That’s what I really like about Oxford. It’s a place where people understand the need to create the kind of community that they want to live in, that they want to have, and this is a really tangible way of doing it.”

The group is currently in the process of hiring four individuals who will be daytime and nighttime coordinators for the shelter while continuing outreach to meet its additional needs.

Anyone wishing to contribute may visit oashox.org/volunteer for more information.