Surprising Results in Homeless Count

The results are in for the 2010 Point In Time Homeless Count.

Seventy-seven volunteers braved the cold weather for five hours Tuesday to help count the homeless in Muskingum County. Chairperson for the count, Theresa Antal, says they found seven homeless people and fifteen observation sites.

"Extremely excited about the results of this because I only expected to find one maybe two homeless people or observation sites, the fact that we found seven actual people that we interviewed in fifteen different sites means that we can go back next year and hopefully we can hit those fifteen sites again and get an actual interview with somebody," tells Antal.

Antal says she is still waiting on the shelter count then will look over the data to see what the county needs immediately and in the long run. Knowing the number of homeless in Muskingum County will also help when applying for federal money. But Antal says applying for that money will be a lengthy process and there will need to be another homeless count next year to determine if need has risen or fallen.

"There are homeless people out there I think it is a good thing to bring this issue to the table and make everyone aware that there are people in our county that need help there are people that have less than all of us do and we need to help them," tells Antal.

During the count, volunteers gave the homeless bags containing food, food vouchers, clothing and a blanket to help keep warm during this frigid weather.

Katie Jeffries

KJeffries@whizmediagroup.com