The Latest in Communitywide Efforts for an Emergency Shelter in Dawson County

Print This Post


By Julia Hansen
Dawson County News Staff
Nov 11, 2024

Plans for a future emergency shelter are now bearing fruit thanks to a deepening partnership between Dawson County officials, area churches and other local groups.

At their Nov. 7 voting meeting, Dawson County’s Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to approve the request to shift $50,000 in remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds to help pay for local emergency shelter-related expenses.

“From the way that government operates wholistically, I think it’s encouraging to hear that we’re doing a partnership with churches…It’s a community issue,” District 2 Commissioner Chris Gaines said during the board’s Nov. 7 work meeting.

Dawson County Manager Joey Leverette presented the idea during the board’s work session Thursday.

Currently, Dawson County has no dedicated shelter, but it has set up temporary shelters during previous cold-weather events like the one in December 2022.

The federal government awarded ARPA money to help the county with costs tied to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, like first responder pay raises.

The leftover ARPA money will be used for supplies like cots, blankets and sleeping bags.

With the extra resources, a mobile trailer filled with supplies will essentially be moved around to whichever local church or community group is able to host a physical shelter.

Emergency Services Director Troy Leist mentioned Thursday that the county does have a trailer available to store future shelter supplies.

Gaines added that dog crates were another need noticed during the cold-weather event two years ago.

Leverette explained that “the time has arrived” to address the need for a local emergency shelter, citing the Dawson County area’s recent near miss with Hurricane Helene and lack of preparedness should the county be directly impacted by future bad weather situations.

An ad hoc committee of county officials and other community members have been working on the mobile shelter idea for most of 2024. Dawson County Family Connection and area churches, organized by a locally-led church collaborative, have “stepped up” to make the local vision for a future emergency shelter a reality, Leverette said.

As with previous cold-weather events, Leverette added that he was “certain” county staff would do their part to help with future emergency shelter efforts, too.

DCN will continue covering communitywide efforts for a future emergency shelter.

Read the story on dawsonnews.com.