OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – In just a few days, the Day By Day Warming Shelter will be moving into a new building that will support twice as many people as before.
“Oshkosh, just like any other community, has a homeless population, and they are our mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers,” said Day By Day Warming Shelter Executive Director Molly Yatso Butz. “Most of our guests have just fallen on extremely hard times, and they need a stable place.”
Yatso Butz is excited to officially start a new era on May 15. The shelter and its staff have come a long way from last December, when the shelter temporarily closed down because of staffing shortages.
“We did hire an enormous amount of team members who are ready to take on just this — what I would call ’empathetic challenge,’” she said.
“We have to be there for them,” Winnebago County Executive Jon Doemel said. “If they weren’t doing it, this would be a service that we would have to figure out. So, how do we work together? Bringing our services together and making sure our resources are their resources.”
Winnebago County employees stepped in to continue providing services last year.
Since re-opening, Doemel helped establish a long-term training plan for Day by Day. And this shelter is also equipped with new safety features.
“Had them change that front entrance,” Doemel said. “Now there’s a metal detector there. So, it’s much safer. So, a lot of the issues that caused their staff shortages and their issues during that time should be very much alleviated here.”
“We just have to make sure that our staff feel protected and that they know what they’re doing — they feel safe,” Yatso Butz said.
Drug use among residents was part of what lead to the winter closure. Doemel says the county is committed to providing help for everyone.
“This is not designed to be filled. I would like nothing more than a 50-bed shelter that’s empty every night. But it’s those programs that get them back on their feet. We don’t throw people away.”
New amenities for residents not seen at the previous location are a part of that plan.
“Eight working washers and dryers,” Yatso Butz said. “We have an ADA bathroom and shower, ample working space, just a lot of great things to help move them forward.”
The shelter will be open every day of the year. The current site only operated between October and April.
Between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., the shelter will offer services like alcohol and drug counseling and mental health support.
