MISSOULA – Missoula’s homeless shelter is temporarily closed due a “significant” plumbing failure that impacted the kitchen, men’s dormitory and some storage spaces.
According to a press release posted on the Poverello Center’s website, officials say for the safety of their clients and to allow for repair and cleaning of impacted areas the Poverello Center is temporarily closed. The shelter will re-open tonight at 8:45pm for normal check-in time . The kitchen is expected to be closed until Friday.
Below is the press release:
Early in the morning for Wednesday May 8th the Poverello Center experienced a significant plumbing failure that impacted the kitchen, men’s dormitory and some storage spaces. For the safety of our clients and to allow for repair and cleaning of impacted areas the Poverello Center is temporarily closed.
“The safety of our clients is a top priority for the Poverello Center,” said Amy Allison Thompson, the Executive Director of the Poverello Center. “Once the issue was recognized our staff worked quickly to clear the affected areas and began to assess damage.”
The Poverello Center will remain fully closed for the remainder of today, Wednesday May 8th, but will open at 8:45pm tonight for normal check-in time to provide overnight shelter to our clients.
The Poverello Center’s kitchen, which serves 400 to 500 meals a day, will be closed until Friday May 10th, and possibly longer. The Poverello Staff are working with community partners, including the Missoula Food Bank, to make a plan for how to continue to serve meals to our clients during the closure.
Due to this issue we have lost all of our food supplies. Eventually the Poverello Center will need food donations but ask that community members wait until the kitchen re-opens to bring in those donations because we currently do not have space to store them.
“The Poverello Center is working with a professional remediation company to clean up this plumbing issue.” added Allison Thompson. “I am confident that we will quickly be able to return to being safe and clean space to providing food and shelter to Missoulians experiencing homelessness and food insecurity.”
