A group of local volunteers has been working on the issue of homelessness in Mexico for nearly a decade.

The Audrain County Shelter Resource Coalition (ACSRC) started in 2014 with a group of volunteers, many of whom still serve in the organization. Board President John Mathews told the Ledger back in 2014-15 that there was a need for services but it may not have been as evident as it is now. Mathews said that’s when people started talking with each other.

“The need was not obvious but it was obvious to those who were aware of it. Then we had an obligation to do something with the information we had,” Mathews said. “We knew there was a population but we didn’t know how big it was.”

Most of the volunteers with the organization have some type of background in social services. Board Treasurer Janelle Williams said the group figured out quickly there were a lot more questions than anyone had answers for.

“We saw a lot of people needing homeless services, needing shelter, needing case management, and needing information and there just wasn’t anything to refer them to,” Williams said. “It’s such a big problem that we just need to take a small step.”

That first step was contacting a group in Columbia that was also trying to tackle the issue of homelessness called A Room at the Inn. Williams said the group mentored local volunteers and they modeled their program after the Columbia group’s. 

Shortly after the group started offering a shelter for when weather became bad, which extended into being open for two months and eventually three months. The shelter is open from December through February. The shelter has also opened during times of crisis like COVID-19 when some families needed a place to finish school.

Eventually, the group began some strategic planning and started fundraising to come up with a plan to operate a more comprehensive shelter that would be open year-round and also provide other services.

“We came up with a plan to start with and we’ve been modifying that original plan ever since,” Mathews said.

Last summer the ACSRC began fundraising for a permanent home that would also serve as a transitional housing for folks who needed extra help. Williams said they looked at several buildings and what it would cost to build new. Building new is too expensive and many of the places they looked at would need a lot of modifications. That’s when Dr. Mark Weaver stepped up and offered the group some medical office space in the Summit Building that wasn’t being used.

“That was kind of our pivot moment,” Williams said.

The ACSRC worked all through last summer into winter and was able to open The Laura Miller George Community Resource Center this past January. The eventual goal is to move the winter overnight shelter to the same location. The renovations for that project are underway.