43
Facility for homeless men to open in Mercer County
The founder quit her job to raise funds for the homeless project.
SHARON, Pa. — Mercer County’s facility for homeless men is set to open in mid-November during the county’s Homeless Awareness Month.
Joshua’s Haven will open at 205 Bank Place in downtown Sharon, the former home of Mancuso Pest Control. Initially, six men will be housed, said founder Sherry Masotto Swetz.
Swetz, a Hermitage native, said she was inspired to start the facility out of concern that Sharon has few facilities for the homeless. Though some housing is available for homeless people with drug and alcohol or mental illness diagnoses, those who are simply homeless don’t always have that option.
She said that in Sharon, the problem is “hidden” with the homeless “hanging out” at a 24-hour coin-operated laundry, sleeping in cars in parking lots or living under a downtown bridge, as two men reportedly did last winter.
Swetz, who has a master’s degree in counseling psychology and did mission work in Mexico and among American Indians in Arizona, said she began working toward forming a homeless facility after going to 14 churches in this area and asking whether people come to the door asking for food or shelter. All but one reported they did. The church officials said they gave them food but didn’t know what happened to them after that.
Three years ago, Swetz formed a nonprofit corporation with a board to deal with the problem. One year ago, she quit her job as director of radiography at Sharon Regional Health System’s hospital to raise funds by giving presentations about her project to local groups.
Her long-term plan is to seek public and private funding to support Joshua’s Haven.
Renting the building and finally having a home was a giant step, and renovations are under way.
Swetz shies away from calling Joshua’s Haven a shelter because the name carries a bad connotation.
“We are not calling ourselves a shelter, but we will be providing shelter,” she said, explaining she doesn’t want Joshua’s to be associated with a shelter here 15 years ago that was not well supervised and became a hangout where drug and alcohol problems abounded.
Joshua’s Haven, she said, will work at not only providing food and shelter, but also teaching the men life skills and giving them spiritual guidance so they can get back to work and regular life.
Swetz said she is working closely with the City Rescue Mission in New Castle and looking for ways to partner with them.
She said that the homeless from Sharon often show up at rescue missions in Youngstown and New Castle because they have nowhere here to go.
Right now, Swetz is planning a ham bingo fundraiser for December. Details will be announced later. In the meantime, she is in need of volunteers and donation of money and goods such as a washer and dryer.
She has an eye toward the future, which may include expanding the capacity of Joshua’s Haven and even opening it to women.
“Down the road, anything’s possible,” she said.
For more information or to donate to Joshua’s Haven, contact Swetz at (724) 983-0153.