The Jacksonville Temporary Overnight Shelter is seeking volunteers immediately so it can open tomorrow. Currently, the shelter doesn’t have enough volunteers to cover shifts at the shelter. Jacksonville Police Chaplain Alan Bradish says that he needs approximately 12 people to sign up to cover all of the shifts at the shelter.
Bradish says he will be holding 3 training sessions today that are 2 hours each at the 948 North Main Street location. The times that are remaining are at 2PM and 6PM. Bradish says even if you come to the training session, you don’t necessarily have to be a volunteer. He asks that people come to the training session and then decide to sign up or not. He says volunteers needs only to attend 1 training session.
Bradish says the training will consist getting familiar with the setup of the facility, as well as a thorough training manual for a volunteer. He says he created a handbook to walk each volunteer through all steps of the process including the process of vetting with the Jacksonville Police Department, setting up a daily routine with the guests at the shelter, and proper etiquette for interaction among other topics. He also asks volunteers to share their stories of why they are volunteering and their interactions with the local homeless population.
Bradish says he will follow up with WLDS News tomorrow to provide an update to see if the shelter will possibly open on time tomorrow after today’s training sessions. He says he will provide more information at that time if there are to be more training session opportunities. He says he will likely hold the sessions until enough volunteers are able to open the shelter.