By KATE POSS
Special to The Record
Volunteers outnumbered the folks they were there to serve at the annual Point in Time count Jan. 25, where unhoused people trickled in throughout the day.
The count was held at SPiN Cafe in Oak Harbor, Ryan’s House in Coupeville, and The Island Church of Whidbey in Langley — places where those without stable housing are likely to gather. Besides welcoming folks with warm clothes, food and personal care bags at the centers, Island County employees and trained volunteers visited camps where folks live to collect data.
Annual Point in Time counts are mandated in each state by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD coordinates with the Washington State Department of Commerce to gather the numbers. The numbers collected determine the amount of funding agencies receive, such as the Island County Housing Authority, which, according to its website description is “the first stop for individuals or families who are struggling with homelessness or at risk of losing their housing.”
This year marked the tenth anniversary of the annual Point in Time count on South Whidbey, held this year at the Island Church, which runs a soup kitchen Tuesdays and Thursdays. About 30 folks gather for a hot meal, some of them without stable housing. A number of volunteers from the Rotary Club of Whidbey Westside were available to provide outreach and resources.
Spring Roehm, a volunteer with the Rotary Club of Whidbey Westside and owner of Salon Spring in Freeland, set up a hair salon at the event. During this visit, she cut and styled the hair of Ashleigh Jacobson, a full-time staff member at The Haven, an emergency shelter in Coupeville run by the Whidbey Homeless Coalition. Jacobson said most nights the shelter — which has capacity for 30 guests — is full.
Roehm was joined by Aimee Tucker, who, with her husband Mark, volunteer regularly with the Whidbey Homeless Coalition.
“My husband and I are part of a 12-step program,” Tucker said. “We are active with people who are in recovery. It is the heart of service. Once you get to the other side (of addiction) you want to give back. You take your darkest days and turn them to your greatest assets.”
Donations are welcome at the Whidbey Homeless Coalition.
“We can always use food donations, canned food, fresh, toiletries, paper towels, socks,” Tucker said. “We’ll take in a family from time to time.”
Point in Time counts, taken each year on Jan. 25, also marked Judy Thorslund’s birthday, which was celebrated with a cake at Island Church’s event. She is an in-the-trenches advocate for people living on the margins. Thorslund was a founder of the South Whidbey Homeless Coalition, which was born following the original South Whidbey Point in Time count.
“In 2014, there were a few of us on South Whidbey talking about the need for shelter for our unhoused people,” Thorslund recalled. “There was a woman, a former veteran sleeping in the bin at Good Cheer. The homeless advocate from the county asked if we would be willing to hold a ‘Point in Time count’ on the South End of the island.”
With Good Cheer volunteers, the group held its first Point in Time Count at Bayview Hall.
“We went on from this day to establish the South Whidbey Homeless Coalition,” Thorslund said, “so you might say that the Homeless Coalition was born on our first Point in Time count day.”
Nowadays, the South Whidbey Homeless Coalition has merged with the Whidbey Homeless Coalition, led by Executive Director Tanya Stager-Gran, who experienced being homeless with five children years ago, before meeting Thorslund and her outreach group. It was an event which turned her life around.
Stager-Gran later joined the Rotary Club of Whidbey Westside in 2021 and volunteered for that year’s Point in Time count. She said the experience influenced her into working with the Whidbey Homeless Coalition. Stager-Gran received an award for her selfless service at a Rotary event last June.
“I fell in love with them,” Stager-Gran said of her work with the Rotary, which led to her job as executive director of the Whidbey Homeless Coalition in May 2023. “We are so thankful for Rotary and Island County for going the extra mile to get this amazing group of community members to hold this event.”
Coordinating volunteers at Island Church Jan. 25, Stager-Gran organized teams to visit South Whidbey encampments and took a moment to chat with a reporter. She referred to those she helps as “guests.”
“We have identified four encampments on the south island,” Stager-Gran said. “There were previous guests at the Clinton Ferry Terminal. And there are always people in and out of Dan Porter Park. Recently people have stayed at Bayview Park and Ride with motor homes.”
Visits to the encampments are made in teams, Stager-Gran explained, because the residents may object to to the visits.
“We are disrupting their space when we visit,” she noted.
Jon Kosa stopped by Island Church to try on a pair of shoes. He lives in a nearby encampment with eight others, who preferred to stay away, and he gathered supplies to bring back to them.
Stager-Gran said about a quarter of the guests at The Haven tend to be seniors. She added that guests experiencing domestic abuse are housed in locations that ensure their safety.
According to the HUD report, the January 2023 Point in Time report found more than 650,000 people experiencing homelessness on a single night, a 12% increase from 2022.
In Island County, the Washington Department of Commerce recorded 131 sheltered and unsheltered people from its 2023 count, down from 152 in 2022.
Based on those figures, counties receive funding toward resources to help their citizens living on the margins of life.
Island County’s Housing Assistance agency can help those in need with providing resources, assisting with rent, deposits and finding housing.
Jon Kosa stopped by Island Church to try on a pair of shoes. He lives in a nearby encampment with eight others, who preferred to stay away, and he gathered supplies to bring back to them. (Photo by David Welton)
Spring Roehm volunteered to give haircuts to any homeless person that wanted one. When no one else was interested, she and Aimee Tucker groomed a volunteer. (Photo by David Welton)
