Low temperatures coupled with snow and ice can be inconvenient for everybody, however the aggravations of winter can become a major problem for those without a house of their own in Keene.
The Hundred Nights, Inc. shelter in downtown Keene. N.H. offers safe, warm shelter during the coldest nights of the year for hundreds of people each winter.
Mindy Cambiar has been the Executive Director of Hundred Nights since August. She expressed she is working hard to increase funding and create more of a positive image for the shelter.
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The Hundred Nights homeless shelter located on 17 Lamson Street Keene. The overnight portion of the shelter is open Dec. 21 until March 31.
According to Cambiar, other area shelters receive funding, which requires them to follow certain rules when taking in guests. Operating since 2009, Hundred Nights provides shelter to those in need — regardless of their history. “Some people are just ineligible — either because they are intoxicated, high, registered sex offenders or don’t follow the rules and get kicked out. Even though there may be a variety of problems, they are still homeless and when it’s cold outside, we want to make sure people don’t freeze to death,” Cambiar explained.
The overnight portion shelter is open from Dec. 21 until March 31, a time range which covers what are often the coldest 100 days of winter, Cambiar said. The shelter opens its doors at 7 p.m. each night, and guests must check out by 7 a.m. the next morning. There are no limits to how many nights someone can stay, but guests must check in each night, Cambiar said.
“Last year total, there were 1686 bed nights to one-hundred-and-four people. This year we are going to hit the two-thousand bed night mark by March 31,” Cambiar stated.
Cambiar explained that Hundred Nights is approved for 26 beds. The whole shelter is cleaned and all bedding is also cleaned and replaced daily by volunteers.
Kelly McKenny, a resident of Keene for 35 years, said, “It [Hundred Nights] has allowed less fortunate folks to have a warm place to stay at night, it’s a comfortable, dependable situation for those less fortunate.”
Ellis Chase-Pinkney of Keene said, “ Since they [Hundred Nights] opened, there has definitely been more people asking for change and stuff like that. I do not think that is necessarily because of the shelter itself, but it is more because of the economy. I think there is a false correlation there.”
“It does make people confront the fact there are impoverished people living in the community, and I think that makes people uncomfortable. I think there is a lot of prejudice against poor people,” Chase-Pinkney continued.
Even if the prejudice makes people uncomfortable, Chase-Pinkney expressed that the shelter offers a necessary service. “I think they have a relatively decent model and message and do well with the funds they have available to them. It is obviously a community service that you need,” Chase-Pinkney stated.
Cambiar said the shelter guests are not always viewed positively.
Cambiar recalled, “One day, some of our guests were outside smoking and talking outside the shelter.This woman had apparently been robbed and she jumped to the conclusion that it was somebody who was from here [Hundred Nights]. She parked her car in the street and started screaming at the group of people.” According to Cambiar, the police were not contacted.
The shelter does not only offer overnight accommodations, according to Cambiar, who added that Hundred Nights also has a year-round resource center. Cambiar noted that this center is a place where people can get out of the cold during the day and search for jobs, meet people and even get a home-cooked meal.
Volunteers bring meals to the resource center, and there are open-mic events on Sundays with soup or chili available, Cambiar said. Hundred Nights also hosts “tailgate dinners” on Saturdays, Cambiar added.
“It all started being served out of the back of a car on Saturday. Right now, there are fifteen church groups that do it on a rotating basis — half do the cooking at home, and the other half bring the food to the shelter. They serve it and eat with people, they even bring their kids,” Cambiar explained.
“The economy has gotten so much worse that when people come, they are hungry,” Cambiar added.
According to Cambiar, the resource center will also feature a new free clinic to provide those in need with medical care. She explained the clinic is awaiting state inspection before it can open.
“The clinic is going to be a great thing,” stated Cambiar.
She added that volunteers renovated a room in the resource center into a clinic space, and decorated with curtains and artwork it to make it look more ‘homey.’”
David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com
