HELENA — Our Place is a drop-in center for those facing homelessness to create new beginnings. Their doors will be closing before the new year as they continue the search for a new location.
Executive director of Theresa Ortega Good Samaritan shares, “We will continue to look for a place and we will probably be closed on the first and pending what goes on until we know if the old restore is available for us.”
Our Place is located at 631 Last Chance Gulch and offers day services for people who are homeless.
The building that houses Our Place was purchased, forcing organizer Good Samaritan to find a new location, but organizers haven't been able to finalize a new location.
Good Samaritan Ministries began managing Our Place in December of 2019. Since then, Our Place says individuals and services have doubled to helping around one thousand people per month.
Ortega believes the closure of a resource like Our Place will impact the community.
"One thing we are very concerned about at this point is people being on the streets during the day and it's cold and folks would come in to be part of the group or get help with what they needed like personal documentation and they could stay to stay out of the cold weather for the time being," Ortega says.
Good Samaritan believes people are more likely to find stability and thrive when they have a space to go where they can be included, create community, and build relationships.
Mikayla Kapphan, the manager of Our Place, says, "They go to God’s Love for meals, but in between meals they don’t have anywhere to go and that’s where we came in and so there is a lot elderly that are unhoused at the moment and we have health concerns with them being out in negative degree weather."
God's Love is still available in downtown Helena for meals and shelter...
Good Samaritan will still offer blankets, supplies and assistance to people in need.
