FOND DU LAC – The community is invited to celebrate the Holy Family Warming Shelter’s new renovations when it hosts its Grand Unveiling on Thursday, October 24. As temperatures rose this summer, the Holy Family Warming Shelter was already setting its sights on winter, namely, getting the facility ready for the upcoming season. When the shelter first opened in 2023, staff, volunteers, and construction crews had only two months to make the most necessary renovations and prepare the shelter to welcome guests.
Over the past few months, the shelter has undergone updates to increase its capacity to 36 single adults per night, add four on-site bathrooms and showers, and improve overall accessibility for those with disabilities. Point-in-time counts from throughout the country, which collect information on the number of people experiencing homelessness at a given time, have shown that “nearly one quarter of individuals experiencing homelessness have a disability, including physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities, as well as mental health and/or substance abuse disorders.” Through ensuring ADA compliance, the shelter will be able to ensure that it is able to properly care for all people, including those with varying physical needs and restrictions. Studies have also shown that the ability to shower on a regular basis not only helps to reduce the spread of communicable diseases, but also to improve physical and mental health. “We are grateful to everyone who helped us open the Holy Family Warming Shelter in its first season. Now, as we prepare to open for our second season, we look forward to welcoming guests to a shelter that is more accessible to everyone, and can assist more people each night,” Holy Family Catholic Community Director of Human Concerns Erin Cobb said. People from the community can view these renovations at the Holy Family Warming Shelter’s Grand Unveiling on Thursday, October 24 at 73 E. First St. Beginning at 3:00 pm, the community can tour the shelter, with the ribbon cutting and drawing for the Holy Family Warming Shelter Raffle taking place at 5:30 pm. During the event, the shelter will collect donations of new adult men’s and women’s underwear and socks to provide to the guests during the season. Those who are looking for additional ways to support the shelter can also purchase a ticket for the Holy Family Warming Shelter up until October 24. Tickets are $20 — or six tickets for $100 — and offer the chance to win monetary prizes of $10,000, $3,500, $2,500, and $1,000. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, including gold-level sponsors Ledgevest Financial and Uecker-Witt Funeral Home & Crematory, the proceeds of every ticket sale will benefit the shelter and help to reduce the approximately $200,000 operating cost for the season.
Tickets can be purchased online at hffdl.org/raffle or at the following locations during their business hours:
First Weber Realtors, 845 S. Main St.
FVS Bank, 51 E. 1st St.
Fond du Lac Family YMCA, 90 W. 2nd St.
The Holy Family Parish Office, 271 Fourth Street Way
Hopper’s, 77 N. Main St.
St. Mary’s Springs Academy SCRIP Office, 255 County Road K
Other ways to get involved include donating meals and the shelter’s most needed items, which are listed at hffdl.org/warming-shelter. Volunteers are needed throughout the season, particularly on Saturday nights. “It is through the support of the community that we are able to care for our neighbors experiencing homelessness and we are blessed to have such great support here in Fond du Lac. That is why we are excited to welcome everyone to our Grand Unveiling and celebrate not only the renovations but the work all of us together make possible,” Cobb said.
