Local church and charity hope to convert parking lot into a “safe park”
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - The future of homelessness in Idaho Falls may have new avenue for relief soon. A brand new charity named the People In Need Coalition (PINC) is partnering with the First Christian Church at 1800 12th street in Idaho Falls to provide a chance for people with out a home a chance to rest.
Bonnie Champagne, the president of PINC, says the goal is to create a "safe park."
"A park that we estimate will open at about six in the evening and people will have to leave by nine in the morning so that the church has use of their parking lot for events at night. They would sleep in their cars. It's not a campground or social club. It's a safe place to sleep. We'll have a camp host on site to oversee everything. And the people who come to camp here will be screened to make sure that we have a safe group together, safe a group together as we can," Champagne said.
Champagne says those wishing to stay in the safe park will have to go through a background check and other measures to ensure everyone's safety.
"There'll be some screening done by Club Inc. to try to get compatible people for this program. Also, when the people come into our safe park, they're agreeing to obey the rules of the safe park and agreeing to participate in case management. Our whole hope is that we can help these people get re-homed and that's difficult in this city right now with the lack of affordable housing and a huge demand for housing," she said.
Champagne says part of why she is so passionate about helping the homeless is in part due to a experience she had being temporarily homeless while living in Philadelphia.
"It has influenced me greatly. This time when I was homeless, I was in Philadelphia and I didn't start out homeless. I was offered a temporary place to stay and I knew the end date. And so as soon as I moved in, I started looking for a place to rent and no one would rent to me," she said.
She says on the experience, "I worked two jobs. I made really good money and I slept in my car for a while. And then on an unheated porch during the winter. And I thought, How is this? I'm I'm a good person. I have a good job and no one will rent to me. So I ended up leaving Philadelphia and going back to New Hampshire, where I was from."
Now Champagne is dedicated to helping people in a situation she is familiar with. She says that because people are with out a home they tend to not sleep at night and sleep during the day. Making it harder for them to go and get the help they may need. Her goal is to change all that.
"I know sometimes when I can't, even though I am camping in a campground, if I hear strange things, I'm awake. Is it an animal? Is it an intruder? What's going on? And I can only imagine that if I was sleeping in my car and I heard noises at night, I would stay awake. I know I would." She added, "Or I would be in a semi dozing state. And if you don't get adequate sleep, you can't function properly. And how would it be if I was a mother with a little child? I would definitely not sleep because I wouldn't want anything to happen to my child. So it really makes it difficult, because if you have to sleep during the day, that's when it helps available."
Champagne says while they want to help people, they want to make sure people understand what can happen during their stay at the "safe park."
"Club Inc., will do a background check and also we'll interview the people to make sure they're willing to participate in case management, willing to obey the rules of the safe park. This isn't, a come have a party over in the church parking lot for the night. There will be quiet hours and every morning this parking lot will be clean," she said.
Champagne says there are still a few steps they will need to take before they end up following through on the plan, but she says she is positive everything will work out for the best.
