The Vandalia City Council learned more about the homeless and homeless issues within the community.
During Monday night’s Vandalia City Council meeting, Suzanne Gathe addressed the City Council and said she was there as the voice of the homeless and for a group of people who recently were made to leave their area from underneath the Kaskaskia River Bridge, where they had been living for the past few months until they were recently forced to vacate from the spot by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Gathe says she has been spending almost all of her time trying to find a place to stay for these 8 individuals and to also get assistance for their other basic needs. She said one of the hotels in town had been giving the homeless rooms but might not be able to continue to do that. She says each of the homeless individuals have different situations and circumstances they are dealing with. Gathe says she is working to find donations to help everyone and also stated the number of homeless in the community is growing. She was asked where the folks were from and she says they are all from the area. Gathe says she was hoping for some help to try and fix these problems so they could save lives.
Speaking during our podcast “Talking about Vandalia” this week, Mayor Doug Knebel says he invited Gathe to speak to the City Council hoping to at least raise awareness and he believes that will lead to more people in the community getting involved.
Mayor Knebel also invited Fayette County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Ryan Scott to Monday’s City Council meeting to talk about his work to establish warming shelters throughout the county.
We will talk more on this issue coming up tomorrow. Also, you can check out this week’s podcast at www.vandaliaradio.com and and under the Podcast tab.
Comments