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A weekly show from the folks at East Lansing Info breaking down all the news and happenings in East Lansing, Michigan.
WDBM East Lansing.
Introduction:This is East Lansing insider brought to you by ELI on impact eighty nine FM. In this show, we break down all of the news and happenings in the East Lansing community. And now, today's East Lansing insider.
Anna Liz Nichols:Hi, everyone. I'm ELi's, deputy editor Anna Liz Nichols. And on this week's episode of East Lansing insider, we're talking to the city rescue mission over in Lansing. You might have heard recently that the city rescue mission, one of the capital area's main resource arms for shelter and other resources for the unhoused population, was moving locations this summer. Or maybe you just noticed the big Jesus saves cross sign that hung outside their building over by the capital was suddenly gone one day.
Anna Liz Nichols:But given the recent onslaught of Michigan's harsh winter weather, which I know we're all feelings, certainly even more so by our neighbors who may not have consistent, safe, and warm shelter, as well as some of the conversations city leaders are having in East Lansing, raising concerns over a growing presence of unhoused individuals in the city. There's conversations being had by city leaders of changing some of the rules in East Lansing about overnight camping and loitering as well as some of the other policies that could impact unhoused individuals that are expected to remain a conversation in East Lansing city government. And as East Lansing info continues coverage on what the city plans to do, I'm glad to be talking today to Laura Grimwood, the community outreach director of City Rescue Mission, about what needs the organization is seeing in the capital area and how their recent move and expansion may help address those needs. Thanks for for making time today. I really appreciate it.
Laura Grimwood:Yeah. Not a problem.
Anna Liz Nichols:People have seen the the the the cross sign for for years, and this is a new building. So what is exactly that City Rescue Mission does in in the capital community?
Laura Grimwood:Well, we simplify what is really complicated by saying we provide food, shelter, and hope. It kinda covers our bases for what we do. So food is we're providing meals. We provide meals to our shelter guests, and then we also provide a dinner meal for the community. And I will tell you those numbers have definitely seen an increase, especially lately.
Laura Grimwood:So we do provide that as far as food. When it comes to shelter, we have a women and children's shelter, and that's for single women, but also women with children. And then we have a men's shelter. And then we include in that our drop in center, which is something that's kind of unique in a sense. We actually patterned off of a program that first started in Detroit, and we kind of brought that to Lansing.
Laura Grimwood:And, essentially, it's just a place for people to come in out of the elements that provides essential services, and it is open through the evening hours. So that would be someone who maybe is not staying with us in our shelter, but they need to come in in the middle of the night because it's especially bad weather. We live in Michigan, so it happens a lot. And they're able to charge their phone. They're able to use a a clean bathroom, which is something most people don't really think about.
Laura Grimwood:They in the morning, we have a day shelter for our guests now. That's a new thing at our at our single adult shelter that you talked about our move. We also have one at our women's shelter, but they're able to come in during the day. At our single adult shelter, they can sign up for showers. So maybe you're not staying with us, but you are homeless and you need a shower.
Laura Grimwood:You can sign up to do a load of laundry. Those are things we consider essential services. We have, of course, the drinking fountain, so we're providing the clean water. Our fountains also have bottle fillers. So all of that falls under shelter and including hygiene items.
Laura Grimwood:And if you're staying in our shelter, we offer clothing vouchers to our thrift store so you're able to get those things. We also have on-site new underwear, socks. In the cold weather, we're gonna be offering hand warmers. We're gonna be offering gloves and hats. We're gonna be offering ChapStick and Kleenex and cough drops.
Laura Grimwood:And all of those things, kind of lump under shelter as well as we have our resource coordinators there. We have agencies that come in. So there are representatives that will be coming in from places like Adven House who oversees housing resources in our area. We have Spartan Street Medicine comes in regularly to our locations. We'll have mobile clinics with the secretary of state to help people get their their IDs and their driver's licenses and things like that.
Laura Grimwood:We have a new I think it's called mobile recovery services. So they have a bus. They're actually RVs that have been retrofitted, and they have physician's assistance. And they'll come to our location, and they'll be able to help our guests with, you know, those kind of health services getting vaccinations, like flu vaccination, COVID, those kind of things right on-site. So there's a lot that goes into that shelter piece.
Laura Grimwood:And then for us, the hope part is the fact of why we're doing what we're doing. And we are a Christian organization, and you talked about the cross that signs over. Our new location has a verse over the door that is from Matthew that talks about coming and finding rest. And I think that's kind of our goal is to offer a place of safety where people can come and know that we're there to serve them and to care for them and to do that in a way that is honoring and glorifying to the one we serve because we wanna be a good reflection of how God loves the community. So it's a it's a high goal, I think.
Laura Grimwood:But that's where the hope part comes in, is telling someone you have a purpose, you have a value. Because a lot of times the people who come to us, they don't feel that anymore. And they're walking around the streets, and they're not being looked at like they have value. They're being looked at with judgment, and sometimes you live in the space that people have made for you. And we wanna say, you do have value.
Laura Grimwood:You have purpose. You have worth. And that's what we want them to find when they come to us.
Anna Liz Nichols:So you talked about this kind of holistic approach addressing, you know, more than just housing need, medical need, the the the want to to feel clean, all that. What are some of the challenges of serving the community that you all experience, whether it be, you know, we don't have enough counselors or or food, can be hard. What are some of the challenges, you guys have faced with addressing the needs in the community, and how does the new location help with some of those issues?
Laura Grimwood:So nonprofits, not just us, but every nonprofit, we're struggling with what we need to provide for needs. So you mentioned food, and I had talked about numbers increasing, like, significantly. So, especially, I tell people all the time, I I don't think they realize that when costs go up for the community, they're going up for us. So, we get a lot of donations, which is great, but there's some things we're gonna need to purchase. We need we get milk.
Laura Grimwood:You know? That's not something that's very easy to get donated because it goes bad. So perishable food items. We offer green salad, at dinners because we want people to have fresh food, and those have a cost to them. There's a cost to offering laundry services and showers and turning the lights on, and everyone's utility prices are going up, so are ours.
Laura Grimwood:We don't just get those things for free. So those are definitely things that, you know, we are battling. I would say part of it too is there's always awareness that, you know, people's people don't know what they don't know is kind of how I look at it. And we oftentimes, if we don't know, it's easy to make an assumption, based on maybe what we saw on TV or what someone said to us or, you know, what we saw on social media. And so there's always that kind of awareness.
Laura Grimwood:People hear something or they see something, that's been shared and it from a friend or someone they follow, and it's easy to just take that at face value instead of doing, you know, kind of searching out for themselves what is accurate or not accurate. So that's a that's a challenge that we face, that our guests face. But the new location too is meeting kind of a capacity challenge. And so we were at the location at Michigan Avenue. So the mission itself, we've been around since 1911.
Laura Grimwood:Mhmm. Up and down, really, Michigan Avenue for most of that. And in nineteen forty seven, forty eight, they settled in where we were, where people remember seeing us right there at the 600 Block Of Michigan Avenue. And we tried to grow there, but if people drive by that block, they realize it's kinda difficult to expand there. There's no parking.
Laura Grimwood:It just had a lot of space challenges, and construction costs just kept going up and up. And we would have potentially had to close down for a significant amount of time to do renovations in that area. And the decision just was it's not cost effective in the long run, and it's not gonna serve our community because we won't be able to expand. We're very limited in that space. So that's where the new location comes in.
Laura Grimwood:We are at 415 West Kalamazoo. It's two former office buildings, and we built an addition in the middle to join the two buildings. So now it's just one giant 37,000 square foot building. And the other benefit as that, we're very close to places where, many people that we serve would already go. There is a lot of need downtown.
Laura Grimwood:A lot of people know that our guests are visiting the library, you know, to utilize services there. They're utilizing CADA, which is the downtown location. It's very close to where we are. Rutter Park, very close to that. A lot of places that people recognize, the names are familiar.
Laura Grimwood:And so it made sense to us to be close to where the need is. If we had to move, which I have to be honest was not what we wanted to do, but if we had to move, that was a good a good spot for us to land. And so it will that location doubles our capacity, meaning we immediately opened a dorm for a 100 men, and we're looking to open a dorm for another 100, and then a dorm for a 100 single women probably sometime in 2026. So it's a huge amount of individuals just at that one location.
Anna Liz Nichols:Mhmm. One quick side question. Mhmm. The the cross sign, it said Jesus saves, if I remember. It's kind of one of those visual, I don't know, kind of iconic parts of of Lansing.
Anna Liz Nichols:Whatever happened to that sign, is it gonna be up at the new location?
Laura Grimwood:Yes. When you brought that up, I was like, oh, because that's one of the things that falls under my umbrella. And, the cross had been up there for a significant amount of time. So, actually, in August, right before we moved, we moved the we moved the cross, meaning we took it down. And when our sign company took it down, they're like, oh, this needs extensive, like, work on it because it been hanging over that building for a long time.
Laura Grimwood:Mhmm. And in the winters and the rain. And so yes. So I know for me, every time, I'm like, I just need to see it up. I just really need to see it up.
Laura Grimwood:So we're looking forward to having it back up, and it will it will be back. So we we are looking forward. And the city worked very, very nicely with us. We appreciate that because, as you said, it is iconic. A lot of people remembered it and recognized it.
Laura Grimwood:And so, yeah, so we're looking forward to having it up as well.
Anna Liz Nichols:But I had I had to ask about the sign. Long time long time lanternate, you gotta ask.
Laura Grimwood:But, you
Anna Liz Nichols:know, it sounds like there is a growing year by year growing need for for more bed space, more resources. Before the the move and I know it's this is just the first phase of the move, and and there's potentially going to be more projects to allow for for more services. But before the move, was there an increase in in need bed space where for every call that you got or or group of calls, were there some people you had to turn away? What's capacity looking like these days versus demand?
Laura Grimwood:Well, we started looking to expand in 2020. So the the long history, with our area is that we've really focused on think toward where the need is going to be. So, yes, it's looking around and saying, this is what the need is today, but also what are indicators of growth. And 2020 was a year of great change. And the interesting thing is if you looked at our numbers, they were down, but they were down because of false reasons.
Laura Grimwood:So they were down because there was a rent moratorium in place. There was social distancing protocols that we were required to follow. But what we were looking at was indications that there there was gonna be a problem on the aftermath of this and that our numbers were going to increase. Not only because of that, but also within the homeless population itself, the demographic is aging. I think it's things that people it's funny hearing people talk about it now because we were looking at that years ago.
Laura Grimwood:We were seeing an increase in the number of those who they had nowhere else to go. They're in their late fifties. They're in their sixties. They're they need care, but it there's no there's no easy place. There's no spot waiting for them to go into it.
Laura Grimwood:So we knew that it was it was coming, and we started looking then towards the need for renovating. But within the last two years, the need in our area has just kind of skyrocketed beyond what we expected. And there's also been rumblings with other service agencies in the area. Recently, another local homeless service agency announced that they were gonna have to completely restructure, and that impacts those we serve. So we know that capacity that we were planning at the new location is going to be filling up very quickly with numbers of those who don't have that other location to go to now.
Laura Grimwood:So, yeah, it was that expectation that we could see it coming. And our executive director likes to say, the lord knows the timing, and we did not know. We couldn't have known three years ago that the need was gonna hit this high, this fast. We just knew that it was heading that way. And while we would have had a few people here and there that we would have had to turn away, the reality was they had other places they could go.
Laura Grimwood:That safety net is disappearing, so that's one thing. But the other thing also is that with our new location, we are definitely noticing a number of those that we are having to turn away. So I know at one point when we first moved in, the average was somewhere we started a wait list, which we have never done. And the average was something like 12 people a night who would sign up for the wait list to see if there would be beds the next day. Now the difference is we don't fortunately, because we have a drop in center there, they don't necessarily have to be turned away in a sense out into the cult.
Laura Grimwood:Now the drop in center doesn't have beds, so it's not ideal, but it's not now you're out there fend for yourself. It is you can stay with us through the night, and then we can see tomorrow, you know, what it looks like. Because our capacity, people will kind of come and go. You're always gonna have, hopefully, people who are transitioning into housing, who have gotten a place, who are moving in with friends, and so that leaves space for new people who have the need. So that's what we're we're seeing.
Laura Grimwood:We've definitely seen an increase in numbers for those who unfortunately don't have space for.
Anna Liz Nichols:Mhmm. And then East Lansing has has some resources for unhoused populations, but City Rescue Mission is our main shelter for the area. It's I believe your service area probably exceeds Justingham County. Mhmm. Okay.
Anna Liz Nichols:Clinton and all that jazz.
Laura Grimwood:Yeah. Mhmm.
Anna Liz Nichols:Over in East Lansing, there's a big conversation happening right now by city leaders. We're looking to adjust our our loitering ordinance,
Laura Grimwood:our our
Anna Liz Nichols:rules about unclaimed property, just things that would impact our unhoused population. And our city police chief and elected leaders have addressed the unhoused population as as a problem for the area. Mhmm. A problem that they've said Lansing has pushed over to us by by clearing out encampments and and not allowing people's presence in public. I was wondering, in terms of conversations about our unhoused neighbors and what communities can do to help.
Anna Liz Nichols:What is something maybe your organization or you would hope that people would understand about the issue of homelessness?
Laura Grimwood:I think it's interesting. I think East Lansing is very interesting in that I feel it's a unique situation. So I graduated from MSU. I lived in Lansing my whole life, but, like, on that outskirt edge of East Lansing. And I think East Lansing is interesting because you have a high student population there.
Laura Grimwood:And so it's weird to see crossover, I hate to say, in some of those issues when you talk about lawyering, you're talking about things that are kind of left behind. Just having been a student myself, I I know that there can be sometimes a little bit of crossover in, you know, who's loitering. You know, who who are you like, do you how are you defining, that when you have students there or, you know, if students leave things behind, like, it is there going to be a difference in in how that's treated? And I know we have often had two individuals who stay with us that the students are very generous, and they knew that they were generous. So they would specifically panhandle from the students.
Laura Grimwood:At times, they knew there was a large population of students around. So I can see kind of where it's this unique situation that Lansing doesn't necessarily experience. As far as kind of what I wish that people would would know is that it is unique, that there is factors. It's not so easily explained. It's very it's a very complicated issue, And it's good to have a a conversation, I think, and not having I I'm not quite sure how many of those they've had yet.
Laura Grimwood:I know I actually recently attended a meeting where there was a discussion about the needs. Actually, a lot of you know, from the city of East Lansing was there. Like, what does that look like? How do we educate people? And I'm a big person that always comes back to again, I mentioned raising awareness.
Laura Grimwood:And it's about raising awareness for everyone about the fact that individuals are still part of the community, just because they're, as you say, unhoused or, you know, homeless. They're they're still part of the community. I think there's an interesting viewpoint almost that if you don't have a home, then you're kind of like this nomad wanderer person instead of the fact that this is where you you live. I think if you asked someone where they're from, they're gonna say Lansing or East Lansing or you know? Because that's where they are.
Laura Grimwood:That's where they're living regardless of what structure they're living in. So I think that's an interesting thought too is how little we take into account that we're all part of the same we're all part of the same community. And maybe stopping to pause a moment to look at individuals and say, they're part of this community. So how do we as a community view ourselves as a whole, and how do we work to meet needs for the individuals in that community where whatever their circumstances really are. What does that look like for us?
Anna Liz Nichols:Yeah. Speaking of the the the meeting the need, I know that you guys are all we're you're hosting a kind of community event later this month. Could you tell us a little bit about that and what people might expect from from the new the new building? What's what's all I know we we kinda talked a little bit about what's in the new building, what's the new plans, but I'd love to open the floor for things that you're excited to share with the community. When's the when's the community event?
Laura Grimwood:So it's Saturday, December 13, from 10AM until 2PM. So it's at 415 West Kalamazoo. That's our new single adult shelter. So final construction is pretty much complete. That's what that means.
Laura Grimwood:Now there's certain steps we have to do before we can expand capacity, but this is our way of opening our doors, letting people come in, see the facility, get an idea of what we're about. And, really, we're funded primarily by the community. So that means the community dollars are what went in to providing this facility. We have had we did receive an economic development grant from the state, and then we had, you know, other small grants. But the majority of the money that funded this came as donations from private individuals.
Laura Grimwood:So this really to me is an evidence of the community coming together with a heart to meet needs. So we want the people who are like, you know, I gave or the people that are like, I wanna I want to see, our community compassionate work to come in our doors. And, yeah, just it's a chance you can get a tour. You can just kind of glance around and see. And in a way, it's it's a thank you to the community.
Laura Grimwood:Because like I said, we've been around since 1911. Mhmm. We would not be around if it weren't for the community where we live. And I tell everybody all the time, the generosity and compassion that we experience, I think it's unique. I really do.
Laura Grimwood:I think it's unique to our area how many different agencies and individuals and organizations are eager, really, really eager to help someone in need. And, this is a way to see a tangible representation of that.
Anna Liz Nichols:Mhmm. I was wondering, do you guys see a spike in in requests for services, specifically shelter, warming services during the winter. We had a pretty sudden you know, it's technically fall, I believe. I think by the time this podcast comes out, it'll still technically be fall. I forget when the change of the season happens, but we we're in winter.
Anna Liz Nichols:I scraped my car. You probably had to scrape your car. You know, just going anywhere in East Lansing or Lansing, as you walk around, you can see our our unhoused neighbors. And I just I don't even like the time I spend, you know, scraping my car. Imagine, you know, not having, a good place, a good safe place to to, you know, find shelter from from this cold.
Anna Liz Nichols:I was wondering, are you seeing an increase in services, and how many people did you guys provide services to to last year, and what were some of those services? We talked a little bit about that previously. But
Laura Grimwood:Well, I can tell you. So our per night average last year was 243. And I can also tell you that recently, we topped 300 people. And that was without really adding space. So I say without adding space.
Laura Grimwood:What that means is we've just because I say capacity is an interesting thing. So capacity can mean beds, but also what it means is the ability of staff to handle the number of people that are coming in. And our staff, like, past few years with the numbers increasing, have just been like, okay. Alright. We'll just take a minute, and we'll breathe, and we'll say, okay.
Laura Grimwood:The need's here. We'll deal with it, and then we'll see where it goes from there. And then we get more individuals needing help, and it's like, okay. We'll take a breath. And, so as I had said, that number has been going up.
Laura Grimwood:And, yes, we we know that there's gonna be an increase when it comes to cold weather. Oftentimes, that increase is gonna be our men's shelter, and it's gonna be our drop in center. Usually, women or women with kids, they're not they're not toughing it out regardless of the weather. If you're a mom with kids, you're not you know, you're gonna do your best not to be sleeping in your car. Or and, fortunately, a lot of times, there are people, friends, acquaintance.
Laura Grimwood:They'll say, you come stay with me. So the increase that we see weather related is oftentimes going to be those individuals that are are men because they'll be like, oh, just just rough it in my car. And we don't ever recommend that, really, or the individuals who are out, and you had mentioned encampments or things like that, who will come in and utilize the drop in center. And to be honest, I don't wanna say we like seeing that because, you know, it's a weird thing to be in a business where your goal is that you go out of business because that would be I hate to say that would be a good thing. We would just restructure how what we do in reality.
Laura Grimwood:But if the day came that we're like, we don't have anyone in our shelter, I mean, that would be I know. That that would be wonderful. But we want people to come in. So it's weird to say our numbers go up, and in a way, that's a good thing. Because that means that person who before wasn't coming and getting help has come in, is getting help, is using a clean bathroom, is probably gonna, you know, be able to get warm.
Laura Grimwood:They're able they'll be able to get a warm shower. They'll be able to get a a good meal. They'll be able to see that it's okay. Because that's another thing too is sometimes those people who are out there on their own, they think I can tough it out. And it's okay to get help.
Laura Grimwood:But that's another thing I would say we wanna say is it's okay to get help. Like, it's okay whatever that looks like. If it's just come in for the night, come in, charge your phone, use the bathroom. It's okay to get help. And it going back to that community awareness, people should realize it's okay.
Laura Grimwood:It's okay to go to some place that can give you help if you need help. You shouldn't have to be out there like, it would be shaming, or I would feel ashamed if I had to admit that I needed that help. That should never happen. Right? It should be, you know, come in.
Laura Grimwood:Come in and get rest and get warm and, tell us how we can help you. When we talk about us moving too, I was actually thinking about this earlier. We were very visible on Michigan Avenue, and I would have people all the time that would be like, oh, the men are standing out there. And so you'd have two types of individuals. You'd have the individual who was like, their heart was broken.
Laura Grimwood:They're like, oh, I see everyone out there. And then you'd have the people, unfortunately, who are like, why are those guys out there? I've actually had people we had one time, our offices were over there. I literally had a woman knock on my on the door, and I go to answer it. And she's like, shame on you for enabling those people.
Laura Grimwood:And I was like, okay. And I tell the story. It was a really snowy day, like, really snowy. And she walks down the street, and my attention is caught because I noticed our guys, right, run across the street. Right there.
Laura Grimwood:And I'm like, is there something going on? And there was someone in the parking lot across the street stuck. Their car was stuck. And they ran across the street to help this person. You know?
Laura Grimwood:And I'm thinking, they don't really have a place to go. Now we have a day shelter. Praise the Lord. But their feet are gonna get wet. Their socks are gonna get wet.
Laura Grimwood:How do they get those dry? They're out in the elements, and they're not thinking of that. They're not thinking of, you know, me. They're thinking of that person over there who's stuck. I think it was a woman in a vehicle.
Laura Grimwood:Regardless, they're like, we're gonna go over and we're gonna help. And then, like, the the other person who just walked away, it's like, shame on you for enabling those people.
Anna Liz Nichols:But this was at the same time?
Laura Grimwood:It was it was, like, within minutes. And I was like, I wish she would just have turned around and have seen. That's what those people you know, that's we're talking about people. I know we talked about kind of the community and recognizing they're part of this community. A lot of the people we serve, they're from Lansing.
Laura Grimwood:I've talked to I don't know how many people who are like, I used to see that cross. I never thought I would be there. I kinda looked down on people who had to go to the mission. You know? It's there's this is still their hometown, you know, just because they come to the mission because they need us.
Laura Grimwood:And, yeah, I just I I think of that a lot, especially when it's winter out. I think of the fact that a lot of our our guys, you know, they're gonna they're gonna help you out. You know? A lot of our our guests, they're just they're just people. And people have, you know, times that they're nice people.
Laura Grimwood:Sometimes, you know, they're not so nice. Sometimes, you know but people are just they're just people. And just because you are homeless or unhoused, it's just a circumstance. It's not an indication of your personality or your background or any of that.
Anna Liz Nichols:Mhmm. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Laura, for your time. I so appreciate it. For listeners, thank you so much for joining me for this week's episode of East Lansing Insider.
Anna Liz Nichols:For more conversations about what's happening in and around East Lansing, be sure to tune in next week or check out some of East Lansing info's coverage of city government, community events, and more at eastlansinginfo.news. I've been East Lansing Info deputy editor, Annalise Nichols. Talk to you again next week.
Introduction:Eastlands Insider is brought to you by ELI on Impact eighty nine FM. We are on the web at eastlancinginfo.news and impact eighty nine FM dot org. Thanks for listening.