Winds howled across South Dakota Tuesday, turning a generally pleasant December day in Rapid City significantly colder. It’s a reminder that winter is coming fast, and unhoused populations need potentially life-saving support.
South Dakota’s bitter cold winters can be deadly according to Matthew Howser. He’s the operations manager for the Cornerstone Rescue Mission’s Main Street shelter in Rapid City.
“South Dakota weather is pretty unpredictable, as you know," Howser said. "We have all our cold weather gear on hand, when our bunks are full, and we have more people coming in we have mats and cots we can put out so they’re not outside in the cold weather. It’s just another way of keeping folks safe. Obviously, we do not want to see anybody freeze to death, which unfortunately has happened before.”
Point-in-time surveys often underreport the actual populations of unhoused or transient peoples across the country, but particularly in rural settings like South Dakota.
That challenge can often make it hard for organizations like Cornerstone to wrap their arms around just how many resources they’ll need any given year.
Donations can help ease that uncertainty, and Howser said gloves, hats, long underwear, socks and coats are at the top of the organization's needs list this winter.
“There is a small group of the homeless population that chooses to live outside, they feel more comfortable doing that," Howser said. "We want to make sure they have all that cold weather gear, and we try to convince them to come in.”
However, Howser said to meaningfully battle homelessness, the stigma surrounding the unhoused must also be addressed.
“I have met so many individuals that come to our door that before they were in the situation they are now they were accountants, they had their own businesses, they were artists," Howser said. "We’re all just one life event away from being in the same situation whether it be a loss of a job or a divorce. It motivates us to help them that much more because we have a picture of who they are and where they came from.”
The Cornerstone Rescue Mission also has a working relationship with Journey On, a local street outreach organization, to minimize harm during life-or-death situations.
