Easter Dinner Held by Zanesville Respite Center

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- The Zanesville Respite Center held an early Easter Dinner earlier today in partnership with Vineyard Church. 

The creation of the Respite Center was a direct response from the COVID pandemic when the homeless didn’t have anywhere to go. 

Manager of the Respite Center, Jill Sharrer, said at the Easter dinner, residents can learn about the resources, recovery services, testing and more provided at the center.

“We do every major holiday here because they don’t have families and stuff like that so we make it as a family thing and this is just where I do my holiday’s at. We have partnered with the Vineyard Church here also to go over what Easter is really about and the resurrection and we just sit here and have dinner, games and just try to be a kid in adult bodies,” Sharrer stated.

The Easter dinner consisted of an adult Easter egg hunt, Narcan training and availability, and free STI testing.

A Respite Center volunteer, Ashley Washburn, talked about her experience working with the organization and how it’s made her look at things more differently.

“And what touched me that Jill said was ‘how as a community we need to bring services to individuals that we serve and bring the support to individuals, meet at where they’re at.’ So I brought the STI testing to Jill’s community center. That way if the barrier is for them to come to our Market Street location, they can get the testing here while they’re at the Respite Center,” Washburn said.

The Respite Center was accepting donations during the dinner.

They said any donation is accepted and residents can continue to make donations by contacting 740-704-0039 or can stop by the center any time at 299 Putnam Avenue.