A homeless shelter in Carlisle will use the former Episcopal Home owned by the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania for family emergency housing. Episcopal Home, a senior living facility, closed in September after 93 years of service.
The Shippensburg News-Chronicle:
Shippensburg Borough Council members said Tuesday they are excited to approve a plan by Community CARES, a homeless shelter in Carlisle, to use the former Episcopal Home as a family emergency shelter home.
Executive Director Beth Kempf proposed using the former Episcopal Home located at 206 E. Burd St. as a family emergency shelter to the board.
“Community CARES (previously Carlisle C.A.R.E.S.) wishes to utilize the former Episcopal Home with the permission of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania in partnership with them for the purpose of providing a shelter for families,” she said. “As an alternative, what we’ve been doing is hoteling families. We work with several agencies in the Shippensburg area, as well as throughout Cumberland County. During COVID, our model that we’ve been using of utilizing church floors to shelter people has no longer been functioning and not safe. This facility would provide a safe location to keep families separated from one another, but united in a safe, quiet place where children can have a less traumatizing experience while experiencing homelessness.”
The Episcopal Home website contains this statement. It says, in part:
It is with saddened hearts that we inform you that The Episcopal Home is no longer financially stable as a care facility and will be closing effective September 30, 2020. This is an immensely sad time for us all, the Board came to this decision after lengthy, prayerful and prudent discernment. Over the past five years, the Board has explored new efforts in fundraising, marketing, and financial management with results that have been good, but not robust enough to allow sustainability. In the past, the diocese has been very generous in supporting the Home, for which we are forever grateful. The margin of loss is not one that even a strident mission effort within our diocese could sustain; an endowment with a principle of ten million dollars would be necessary to ensure a sustainable draw to meet the annual deficit of recent years.
In addition to your prayers during this transition period, we ask for your assistance where able. We are committed to ensuring excellent care for the residents as we work to assist their families and responsible parties to resettle them in alternative facilities and housing, work to alleviate distress, and provide spiritual guidance.