On Wednesday, January 22, 2020, The Housing & Homelessness Coalition, an initiative of United Way of Marathon County, in partnership with North Central Community Action Program (NCCAP) conducted the Point-in-Time count, as required by the Wisconsin Balance of State.
The purpose of this count is to capture a snapshot and account for individuals currently not sheltered. The count took place between the hours of 11:00 pm and 3:00 am in Marathon County.
The count resulted in seven individuals being counted as unsheltered or living outside, in addition to 73 individuals currently living in the various shelters in our community. This puts our total at 80 individuals considered homeless on January 22, 2020. This number strictly reflects individuals that we can make contact with.
We’d like to thank our all of the volunteers that make this count possible. Without their commitment to the community, we couldn’t perform such important work. We’d also like to thank the Wausau Police Department, the Marathon County Sherriff Department, the Crisis Assessment Response Team (CART), the Parks and Recreation Department and First united Methodist Church. All of these organizations play an important role in helping us complete this work. Without such dedicated community partners our efforts would not be as fully realized.
Additionally, the Housing & Homelessness Coalition held Project Connect on Thursday, January 23, 2020. Project Connect is an informational and resource event held at the Salvation Army, where individuals that are experiencing homelessness or are on the verge of homelessness can connect with community resources to help them achieve housing stability.
- 13 partner agencies shared their resources with individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk.
- 105 free lunches were provided by the Salvation Army.
- 8 free haircuts were given by stylists with The State College of Beauty Culture.
Again, we thank all of our partners that made this event possible. Tackling the issue of Homelessness is a community effort. The dedication, empathy, and compassion of those involved in Project Connect is what makes it the event that it is.
We stay committed to working with all of our partners to eliminate homelessness in Marathon County. We look forward to continuing this work with all of you. It takes a village to solve these issues and we are thankful for all of your commitment and support.
Thank you,
Ben Lee
Director of Community Impact – Financial Stability & Health
United Way of Marathon County
