RAISING FUNDS
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove House Emergency Homeless Shelter held its annual fundraising banquet on Monday evening at the Copperas Cove Civic Center.
Several hundred attended the event, which raised approximately $10,000 from a combination of sponsorships, donations, as well as a silent auction for the evening.
Brian Hawkins, Executive Director of Cove house, gave the audience an update on Cove House to include its activities as well as accomplishments during the past year.
The evening also recognized many sponsors and volunteers, both for the shelter and for the Free Clinic.
Ellie Bocanegra was honored as Cove House’s volunteer of the year. Hawkins said Bocanegra comes in “literally every day” to help out at the shelter.
Metroplex Hospital was thanked as the Sponsor of the Year for the shelter’s free clinic. Not only do they let Cove House operate a clinic at the Ledger Medical Plaza, Hawkins said they accept referrals from the physicians who work at the clinic, and will perform lab work, blood work and even x-rays at the hospital at no charge for those referrals. In 2014, the clinic saw 278, and Hawkins expects the clinic will have treated 725 patients by the end of 2015.
The free clinic was open two Tuesday nights per month in 2014, and began opening four Tuesday nights per month in 2015. Requirements to be seen at the clinic include having no insurance and no financial means to get medical help somewhere else. Hawkins said a dentist has just agreed to come on board to see patients, and the clinic is looking for more dentists to volunteer.
Carlyle Walton, the CEO of Metroplex Health Systems, was present to accept the recognition.
Stephen Kennedy, owner of Copperas Cove Chick-fil-A, was recognized for the store being the Outstanding Supporter of the Year for 2015. The restaurant holds a drive for Cove House once a quarter, such as clothing and bottled water drives.
Lil Tex Restaurant was recognized as Employer of the Year. “They’ve employed many of our residents,” said Hawkins. “some of our residents have had challenges with employment, but i think (Lil Tex) has found some good workers.”
Hawkins described the format of the shelter, which has one home for men, one for women, two family homes. All needs are provided for residents, to include linens, towels, toiletries. The shelter provides them with food for three square meals a day. There is also a computer lab where they can do job searches, print resumes and more. Hawkins said Texas A&M Central Texas comes and teaches classes for nutrition on a budget as well as resume’ writing.
For the coming year, Hawkins said one of the goals is to purchase one washer and dryer for each house. Currently there is only one set on site for all four homes
Hawkins also gave an overview of the transitional housing program, which is a six-month program at an eight-plex apartment unit owned by the shelter. “Residents pay a monthly fee to be a part of the program, a very low fee, which covers the apartment and water. They pay for their own electric.” Once a month, residents sit down to go over their budget and savings goal. In six months, they are to have saved $700-$1,000 which will go toward them getting into their own apartment.
Cove House reached a milestone earlier this year, when it received a grant from the Central Texas Housing Commission, which enabled the shelter to pay off the mortgage for its transitional housing unit. Hawkins said they were also able to purchase appliances for the eight-plex.
“I would hope that no one here with us tonight that has come to support us, would ever find yourself in a situation where you are homeless. But I can tell you from dealing with the people and residents, it is a humbling experience. What we try very hard to do is to take individuals who are in probably one of the toughest situations they will ever been in, in their life, and let them realize there is still hope.”
While Hawkins said, sadly there are some called “chronically homeless” who believe they can never get out of that cycle and have lost hope, Hawkins also said the shelter has residents who come through successfully.
“It is a hopeful environment for them to work through the situation, work out of it, and on to the next situation in thee life.”
Cove House is on track to provide shelter to 400 this year, with 82 of those individuals to be veterans. Hawkins said Cove House is in the process of working with the VA to become part of the HUD VASH program, which provides housing support for homeless veterans.
“One of the biggest eyeopeners for me in the last year is the tremendous amount of homeless veterans we have,” Hawkins said.
Keynote speaker for the event was Jill McCall with Waco’s Compassion Ministries. She shared about the experiences she’s had directing that program since 1999, including the ups and downs of the residents who come through their program. McCall said their family units are full all the time and she conducts interviews each Tuesday. She describes residents coming in as seeing the “true face of hopelessness.” However, twice a year their program holds graduations.
“We make a big, big deal out of people who successfully complete our program,” McCall said. “I have some who have come up to me and said, Do you know this is the first thing I have successfully completed in my life? That, my friends, is an extremely empowering statement. Once somebody experiences success, more than likely they want to experience it again.”
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