Homeless People

Two young Paramount Elementary School students have taken books read in class to heart, in a way that is helping others. Drew Lobley's kindergarten teacher Lucy Austin read “The Quiltmaker's Gift” by Jeff Brumbeau to the class. In the book, a generous quiltmaker sews the most beautiful quilts, then gives them to the poor. She helps a selfish king learn that giving is the true secret to happiness. That got Drew, the 6-year-old son of Andrew and Victoria Lobley of Hagerstown, thinking.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The Waynesboro New Hope Shelter is nearing completion but needs help from the community to get the doors open by winter. Volunteers are needed to help with painting, cleaning, organizing, decorating and minor finishing work, said Violet Schmid, a shelter co-chairperson. People with carpentry skills are also needed to help put up drywall, she said. Donations are welcome to help pay for supplies, utilities and operating expenses. Work sessions will be held the next two Saturdays at the shelter at 25 S. Potomac St. from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Several area pizza shops have donated pizzas to feed those who attend the work sessions.

HAGERSTOWN - The owner of the former Municipal Electric Light Plant in Hagerstown will have to pay the cost to build a chain-link fence around the dilapidated property. During its Tuesday work session, the Hagerstown City Council unanimously agreed to give Chief Code Compliance Officer John Lestitian permission to seek a contractor to build the fence. Lestitian said he didn't know how much the 8-foot high enclosure with barbed wire on top will cost, but Partners Marketing LLP in Staunton, Va., which has owned the property at 600 S. Cannon Ave. for the past 12 years, will have to pay the bill.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - Sleeping in the cold with only a cardboard box for shelter is nothing new for "Shaky" and his friend, Carol. Both said they are homeless and often sleep where and when they can. On good nights, they take refuge in one of the seven homeless and emergency shelters in Washington County. They had company Friday night at Hagerstown City Park when a group of about 20 advocates for the homeless set up cardboard appliance boxes and crawled in for the night.

HAGERSTOWN -- A homeless man who acted as his own lawyer Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court had his conviction for discharging a firearm within Hagerstown's city limits struck, and received probation before judgment. Probation before judgment means if he successfully serves a year of probation, the conviction will not appear on his record. James Michael Devine, 57, must also serve 50 hours of community service within 60 days, and may not live on the streets of Hagerstown or possess firearms during his probation.

HAGERSTOWN -- REACH, which provides shelter for the homeless during the cold-weather months, needs supplies for its summer program. The summer shower and laundry program for the homeless is in desperate need of supplies, according to Jodie Stock, executive director of REACH. REACH, which stands for Religious Effort to Assist and Care for the Homeless, is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for those services, Stock said. No appointments are necessary, although participants must be homeless, she said.

It was last Wednesday morning and the businesspeople in The Clarion meeting room had already started to fidget because the program had gone a half an hour longer than promised. Despite that, Hagerstown Mayor Robert Bruchey got up and told a very personal story. A man he did not name, but who he said was like a brother to him, had lost his home because of an addiction to alcohol. For seven months, the mayor said, he opened his house to the man and tried to help him, doing things such as making sure he got to work on time.

scottb@herald-mail.com Freddy Hepfer, like some other area homeless people, has been spending his days in the Washington County Free Library. Because the REACH cold weather shelter is closed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, Hepfer, 19, said he spends time in the heated library, reading whatever strikes his interest on a given day. But the library's executive director says the presence of the homeless in the library has sparked some complaints. "They are using the library as a day center," Mary Baykan, said.

In yesterday's editions of The Herald-Mail newspapers, reporter Karen Hanna wrote about Claire Seibert, a volunteer for the local homeless shelter. Seibert is one of a number who volunteer at the facility run by REACH, which stands for Religious Effort to Assist and Care for the Homeless. Seibert is a part of a 10-part series The Herald-Mail is running on those people who give their time and resources to make things better for the less fortunate in this area. In Seibert's case, the time she has spent at the shelter over the last four or five years has meant a great deal, even to those who haven't been helped directly.

When you're out of work with no place to live and the cold-weather shelter doesn't open until 7 p.m., what do you do on a day when the temperature dips below freezing? You go to the library, where it's warm and you can read a book. But now officials of the Washington County Free Library say the growing influx of homeless is intimidating other patrons of its downtown Hagerstown branch. Some other place must be found for the homeless to congregate during the day, they say. We agree, because we want to see them get help they can't get sitting in the library.