Homeless outreach team urging people sleeping on streets to warm up inside shelters
Mental Health Partnerships (MHP) drives around Upper Darby to check on people experiencing homelessness.
By Madeleine Wright
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — The freezing cold is hitting hard, especially for some of our most vulnerable residents. Organizations are stepping up to help people sleeping on the streets.
Every day, a team of outreach workers from a nonprofit called Mental Health Partnerships (MHP) drives around Upper Darby to check on people experiencing homelessness. Teresa Purdy, program manager for Delaware County Outreach at MHP, said these welfare checks took on a greater sense of urgency when it’s freezing cold.
“It’s so dangerous, like, you can actually lose your life,” Purdy said. “It’s a matter of life and death.”
Purdy urges people on the street to warm up inside a homeless shelter but says not everyone accepts the invitation.
“Some of the barriers we face are resistance from some of the participants themselves,” Purdy said. “Some have become very distrusting in the system.”
That’s why she believes building rapport with the community is so important. If people agree to accept services, they’re connected with resources that can help them find stable housing.
Aron Kohlenberger, who previously experienced homelessness, is in the process of finding long-term housing through MHP and its partner organizations.
“I’ve been getting a lot of help,” Kohlenberger said. “They look out for me, they look out for her [my dog], and they’re working on getting me into like possibly the Rapid Rehousing Program.”
People who come in from outside are also offered a hot meal, along with free clothing, shoes and toiletries. Purdy said this work is her calling.
“It’s fulfilling knowing that all humanity isn’t lost,” Purdy said. “Just because an individual doesn’t have a home doesn’t make them less human.”
It’s a belief that fuels her drive to help others.
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