A just-released federal government report reveals that homeless across the U.S. surged by 12% this year, the highest year-to-year increase on record. And earlier this year, the first Point-in-Time count since the pandemic marked a 6% increase in homeless men, women and children in Ada County.
From a distance, the data is troubling. Up close, it’s heartbreaking.
“These are people from all parts of our community who need the basic necessities of life,” said Chad Summervill, Corpus Christi board member. “They are elderly people. They are young people. They are people who have families in town, but can’t be supported by those families.”
Corpus Christi, the modest day shelter with a high-profile mission, is marking 20 years since it first opened its doors in Boise. Morning Edition host George Prentice visited with Summervill to talk about the anniversary and the organization’s ambitious fundraising campaign.
"Over 150 people come through [Corpus Christi's} doors every single day. And we’re not a big shelter.”Chad Summervill
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. Hi. I'm George Prentice. Well, this week we'll mark the winter solstice, the official beginning of winter. That said, cold is cold before December 21st. And for sure for many nights to come. Chad Summervill is here, member of the board of directors for Corpus Christi Shelter in Boise. Mr. Summervill, good morning. Thank you.
CHAD SUMMERVILL: George, for having me. Good morning to you.
PRENTICE: 20 years? Do I have this right?
SUMMERVILL: You do. 20 years ago this month, Corpus Christi House was started as a nonprofit by a number of individuals who came together from various churches in the area to offer shelter, warmth, dignity to people who are experiencing a homeless crisis.
PRENTICE: Can you talk a little bit about how the face and the voices of the men and women who walk through your doors are more and more familiar? And how….well… this is us.
SUMMERVILL: Absolutely. When you come into Corpus Christi House, it's a little bit difficult to tell who's a guest and who's a helper. We started with all volunteers, and it was only a number of years ago that we needed to hire our first staff member, and now we've grown slightly from that. But as you walk into Corpus Christi house, you will be very surprised to see the wide-ranging community members that we serve. And the reason why you see that is because there are people from all parts of our community who need the basic necessities of life. People are sleeping in their cars. You would have no idea that that they're sleeping in their car, and they come to Corpus Christi house in the morning to take a shower, to get a clean pair of clothes, to get something to eat before they go off to work. It's surprising, and it's heartwarming that there are so many people in our community that are willing to volunteer, donate their time, donate their funds to an organization that can help in those ways.
PRENTICE: How do you sustain yourself? Well, let me put it more simply: how can we help?
SUMMERVILL: Thank you so much for asking. Corpus Christi House is a nonprofit. It is 100% supported by the people of Boise, and we do not have any grants. We don't have any city or state funding, federal funding, none of that. So, the ways that we started and the ways that we will continue to go for the next 20 years is because the people of Boise donate their time as a volunteer. You go to the Corpus Christi Boise. Org website and sign up to volunteer. Or you click the button that says donate, because we're running our number one fundraiser right now, which brings us in our operating budget for the year. We need to raise $200,000 by the end of December. And people can go there and donate $25, $250, $1,000. We need angel donors. We need business sponsors. That's how we survive, and that's how we're going to continue to meet the growing demands of a population of people who are being pushed out of housing. Um, coming to Boise for safety for various reasons. And we need the community to support this very unique and loving way of supporting people.
PRENTICE: We're speaking with Chad Summervill from Corpus Christi House in Boise. Chad, I pick up this morning's paper and the New York Times homelessness hits record level this year. The biggest jump in a single year since records began. I think most of us have some theory about root causes of homelessness, yet there seems to be also a bit of a disconnect. We listen to some lawmakers, particularly over at the county building, and they have a rather different take on the cause of homelessness than, say, the folks who are at Boise City Hall. What do you think? What's going on?
SUMMERVILL: Well, I can't tell you exactly what's going on because that's not my area of specialty. My area of specialty is offering dignity to people who need it. Right?
PRENTICE: Then how about anecdotally?
SUMMERVILL: Yeah, but I can tell you. Right. Exactly. But I can tell you that we're seeing people. They are elderly people. They are young people. They are people who have families in town but can't be supported by those families. There are some mental health challenges that we see. There's addiction challenges that we see, and there are people who have none of those but still don't have a home. I also saw those numbers that came out, and it just validates that the struggle that we're having at Corpus Christi House to keep up. Sometimes the numbers don't exactly reflect the actual effort that it takes. And Corpus Christi House is absolutely jam packed with people. Over 150 people come through our doors every single day. We're not a big shelter.
PRENTICE: It's a very modest building.
SUMMERVILL: Yes. And maybe we should talk about that. Where is Corpus Christi house? So, we're at 525 Americana. So that means as you're coming down Americana, you go under the overpass by Rhodes Park. We're over on the right, most of you listening. Hello, listeners. You've never seen corpus. You never looked over to the right, and maybe you saw some people gathered out in the front as they were waiting to come in. In the morning. We open at 830 every Monday through Saturday, but wondered what that was. That's Corpus Christi house, so I encourage you all to be aware of where we are to consider what you might be interested in doing to support Corpus Christi House, either by volunteering or donating your funds as well. So, it's definitely something that people don't aren't fully aware of sometimes. And George, I'm so thankful to have been asked to come on your program, which I listen to every single day, um, to talk about Corpus Christi House, because people don't know about what we do.
PRENTICE: I'd like the takeaway this morning to be one of hope and not despair.
SUMMERVILL: Absolutely. So, we we're a hopeful organization, George. We believe that every person is made in the image of God and can deserves dignity, respect. And that is what we offer every single day. We have known some of the guests for many years. Uh, on Friday, every Friday at 1:00, we do what we call clarification of thought. And that is basically an open mic session. And we have a microphone and we give announcements and, and guests are able to say anything that's on their mind. And then we do a quick raffle, and we raffle off a couple, uh, hot coffee mugs or a blanket or some hand warmers or a gift card or something like that. Uh, on Friday at the raffle, three of the people who won their little raffle ticket and got a prize decided to give that prize to another person, uh, another guest sitting there in our midst. It was the most fun and joyful and giving spirit. And I think, you know, most people wouldn't ever see that. And I would love for people to understand that Corpus Christi House is a place of hope, is a place of love and dignity and respect.
PRENTICE: Chad Summervill is a member of the board of directors for Corpus Christi House. Uh, great. Good luck with your appeal as we count down our days to a precious few in this year. And thank you. Thank you for what you do every day. And thanks for giving us some time this morning.
SUMMERVILL: Thanks so much for having me, George.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
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