March 29, 2024

Homeless Solutions in Missoula

volunteers poverello

Homelessness is a problem for families and communities across the nation. An advocate for the homeless in Southern Maryland found an impressive model of a homeless program/shelter in Missoula, MT.

The Poverello Center is a highly functioning program that is providing help and care for the homeless. She forwarded information to others looking for ways to reduce the homeless population in our community.

Among its services are:

  • Short-term emergency shelter
  • Veterans housing and services
  • Daily hot meals, sack lunches and food pantry services
  • Toiletries, bathrooms, and shower facilities
  • Emergency clothing and laundry services
  • Mail, phone, and messaging services
  • Scheduled educational classes and a computer lab
  • Medical services through the Healthcare for the Homeless Clinic
  • Alcoholics Anonymous and other support groups
  • Community resource and referral
  • Homeless outreach services
  • Community outreach and educational programs

The Poverello Center is an award winning non-profit organization formed in 1974, by a group of community members committed to establishing a ministry to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and shelter the homeless in the Franciscan spirit of peace and care for others. The organization has been working for 40 years to alleviate the experience of poverty and homelessness in the Missoula community.

Forty percent of the Poverello’s guests have income but struggle to find housing in Missoula’s competitive market. More than $800,000 worth of food is donated per year, allowing our commercial soup kitchen to serve nutrient rich, fresh meals for a cost of less $1 per person. And volunteers are as important in Missoula as it is in Southern Maryland. Volunteers provide nearly 9,000 hours of service each year, a value of $200,000.

Missoula is a college town not a wealthy county like St Mary’s, says the Southern Maryland advocate.  What is our vision for the future? she asks.
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