CLEVELAND — Eneatrice Jones-Pierce lost her job during the pandemic and found herself in need of help. Seeking diapers for her daughter, she turned to the Haven Home, located in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood, for assistance.
What You Need To Know
- The Haven Home is an emergency overflow shelter for women and children in Cuyahoga County
“It was very resourceful and also helpful,” said Eneatrice Jones-Pierce.
Cynthia Rios is the executive director of the Haven Home. The temporary emergency overflow shelter serves as a place to stay until space becomes available at a family shelter in Cuyahoga County. The Haven Home currently houses eight families.
Rios talked about the growing challenges some people who live in the surrounding community are facing due to the pandemic.
“They would come to us and say ‘Do you have any laundry detergent, because I don’t have any. Do you have any diapers? Do you have any soap? Do you have any dishwashing liquid,’ and so, instead of just responding to those as they came in, we decided to put together an organized initiative so that every Thursday we would have a different type of product we were giving out,” said Rios.
The Haven Home hosts a monthly diaper distribution. People are able to register for the event by calling ahead at 216-220-1902.
Rios said the shelter is consistently able to provide meals for families staying in the temporary emergency shelter, and provides other resources as needed, including education supplies for children.
“With the pandemic, I guess one of the plus sides of that is because they couldn’t go to the libraries and the bishop recreation center where they normally would go. They stay here during the day. So we are now open 24-7,” said Rios.
While the Haven Home continues to meet the needs of the community, it is also facing shortages. The staff welcomes donations of diapers, non-perishable foods and clothes,especially clothing items for boys. At the same time, it hopes to identify reesources to help with needed building repairs.
“Right now, the cost of material is high, there’s a labor shortage,” said Rios. “The dining room floor needs replaced and I just can’t find somebody to do it. So if we could get anybody who, you know, has some skills in that area or knows someone we could always use that help.”
For more information on the Haven Home, click here.
