St. Benedict's Campground is a refuge for the homeless in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. In collaboration with La Puente Home and the City of Alamosa, the purpose of this project is to provide for the temporary needs of homeless in transition, who are experiencing poverty and mental health needs in the Alamosa and San Luis Valley region of rural southern Colorado. In the past year, the City of Alamosa has provided access to water, electricity, Wifi, and port-o-lets, and La Puente Home has provided windbreaks, tents, and picnic tables in collaboration with the Greeley Centennial Rotary club.
The intent of this small granted project is to help build one sustainable shelter for this homeless development. In late winter 2021, a heavy snow storm left two feet of snow overnight in the Alamosa area, collapsing tents, and burying the homeless of St. Benedict's. The homeless required emergency help to be dug out and moved to a temporary cold-weather shelter. A longer-term and more sustainable solution is the construction of small, hard-sided homeless structures. These ventilated and insulated structures have been locally designed in collaboration with the City of Alamosa and have been tested by the homeless of St. Benedict's. There is currently a need for additional structures.
Members of the Greeley Centennial Rotary Club will partner with members of the Alamosa Rotary Club to jointly build one of these shelters in July 2021 (see attached pictures for reference). An additional purpose of this visit is also to continue to collaborate and build better relationships with members of the Alamosa Rotary club, City of Alamosa, and La Puente home. Through this collaboration, we will continue to leverage collective resources in the development of St. Benedict's. St. Benedict's is owned and maintained by the City of Alamosa. The shelter will be donated to the City of Alamosa to ensure that needed repairs and management of occupants is sustained for the foreseeable future.
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