Archives for December 2023

Juneau, Alaska – Since opening on Oct. 20, 163 individuals have come through Juneau’s cold weather emergency shelter (warming shelter).

Steven, a common resident, has been homeless for 10 years, he said, mostly living in the woods.

He said the shelter is a very good place for everybody who needs it, and the staff are good people. He’s known them for a long time because he’s stayed at previous shelters in Juneau.

When it comes to being homeless, Steven said people don’t understand that the cold can set in quickly. They don’t know what it’s like to wake up every day not knowing what’s next.

“On the streets it’s hard. If you aren’t in that crowd, you just don’t know. People just don’t know,” he said. “And I’m just a guy. A homeless guy.”

St. Vincent de Paul will operate the shelter until April 15, 2024. Click here to continue reading…

Martha Crockroft can’t say for sure, but she’s guessing she’s wrapped more than 200 donated presents a year for 15 or so years, so the number of kids tearing the paper off gifts on Christmas morning she’s handled is, well, a lot.

She was wrapping a coat for a young child at mid-morning Saturday in the community room at the St. Vincent de Paul Juneau complex on Teal Street, surrounded by hundreds of items still to be wrapped and picked up by families as part of the organization’s annual Adopt-A-Family Christmas Gift Program.

Stacked throughout the room were gifts ranging from video games to Matchbook planes (and, yes, probably some cars) to a vintage Princess Diana doll with authenticity documents awaiting decisions about which youths would be good matches for such gifts. While many of the items were timeless classics, Crockroft said both the wish lists and items donated have changed notably during her many years participating in the program.