‘Project Homeless Connect’ Today Links Those in Need With Casper Agencies

You slept in your car last night.

You crashed on a friend's couch last night.

Through no fault of your own, you're in Casper without a job, not knowing where you'll sleep tonight, not knowing where you'll get your next meal, not knowing how you or your kids will stay warm, not knowing if someone infected you with a sexually transmitted disease, not knowing how you'll move on from a shattered relationship, or not knowing if it's even worth living

You don't know when or how all this ends.

You're not alone.

But you can find help, and a lot of social service agencies want to help you find it.

Today, 10 agencies are sponsoring the annual Project Homeless Connect downtown at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Club, 306 N. Durbin St., until 5 p.m.

They include the Casper Housing Authority, the City-Natrona County Health Department, the Community Action Partnership of Natrona County, Poverty Resistance and others.

The public and private agencies are offering hot meals, job hunting advice, food, clothing, blankets, haircuts, male and female hygiene kits, HIV testing, gun locks, kits for how to prepare for emergencies, medical exams, literature on suicide prevention, and other resources.

Volunteer Hannah Wheeler said her agency is offering socks, hats, scars, hand and feet warmers, blankets, food and hygiene kits.

Josh Crabb, the street outreach coordinator for the Community Action Partnership, said he works to find the homeless everywhere from bus stops to under bridges and get them immediate help.

"We greet people where they're at," Crabb said.

The need is serious, and growing more so, said Kim Summerall-Wright, executive director of the Casper Housing Authority.

"The poverty rate in Casper is nearly 11 percent," Summerall-Wright said.

The Housing Authority already provides apartments for 1,000 Casper families, and later this year will be opening another 60-unit housing complex called Liberty Square at 12th and Beverly streets, she said.

Chaney Moore is the family self-sufficiency coordinator with the Casper Housing Authority, and echoes Sumerall-Wright's comments.

"A lot of people live in their vehicles - more than you think," Moore said.