May Newsletter

Hi Friends,

“I didn’t know ESNKY did that” was a comment made by several people at our recent Volunteer Appreciation dinner after they heard presentations from students and staff. With that in mind, this month is about raising awareness of the things ESNKY does beyond taking excellent care of our guests and providing a ton of volunteer opportunities.

Did you know that we open up our doors when agencies across the nation or in our state reach out and want to tour to learn more about our approach to emergency shelter and services? Since January, we have hosted people from The Gathering Place in Georgetown, Kentucky, and St. Vincent De Paul in Dayton, Ohio, who wanted to learn about low barrier, harm reduction and trauma informed care practices to meet people where they are at so they could incorporate those into their shelter practices. We also opened up our doors for United Way in Danville, Kentucky, who just recently began looking at opening an emergency shelter to meet people immediately in crisis as they do not have a shelter in their city. We share our holistic and best practice programs and service models, shelter operations and how we train our staff to help others be able to help people that are living in their community.

We are always honored when this occurs, because we know that we cannot do it all or be it all. Opening our doors and giving tours to help other communities and partner agencies learn is about making the world a better place for everyone, being an amazing partner, and it is about being Life Saving, Life Changing for anyone we encounter. If you want to take a tour, let me know and I can make that happen 😊

Lastly, I want to personally thank Dave Osterday and Kevin Smith for being amazing board members these past 3 years. Being on the board is a huge commitment and I am always in awe of the time they give to keep us going. Their term may be over, but the mark they are leaving will never be.

Enjoy the sunshine & keep supporting us this summer. Homelessness is a housing problem, and it is year-round.

Kim M. Webb

Executive Director

Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky

Shining a Spotlight on Homelessness

While homelessness remains a pressing concern, local media outlets have recently turned their attention to the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. Both Soapbox Cincinnati and NPR have highlighted the critical need for ESNKY’s life-saving and life-changing services. Through these types of features, the community gains insight into the challenges faced by thousands in our area.

Read more here:

Soapbox Cincinnati: Beyond the Roof: 5 Questions with Kim Webb

NPR: What Could the Supreme Court Case on Homelessness Mean for Kentucky’s New Street Camping Ban?

Volunteer Dinner and Award Winners

We celebrated our volunteers with a special dinner just for them last month. Their time, hard work, and talent allows us to serve men and women 365 days. We are so grateful for them!

Special recognition was presented to the following students and interns:

• NKU Social Work Interns: Abbey Birch, Weston Lock
• UK College of Medicine Student Volunteers as part of CCRU at the ESNKY Healthcare Clinic: Ashton Maricocchi, Kendal Wehrle, Margo Nelis, Samantha Neanover, Jessica Schilling
• Ignite Institute High School Intern: Katrina Buckley

Award Winners:

• Ralph Drees Impact Award – David Drees

  This is given to an individual or group that has had a lasting impact on the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. We are proud to honor Ralph’s son, David with the award this year to recognize his service as Chairperson of the “Help us Home” Capital Campaign.

• Beyond the Call of Duty Award – Professor Hans Schellhas and NKU Visual Communication Design Students: Sarah Weimer, Em Sanning, Tabitha Phelps, Ash Coleman, and Leah Hulsman

  This award is given to a volunteer that goes above and beyond in their volunteer service. This year, we are excited to honor Professor Hans Schellhas and NKU Visual Communication Design Students for their tireless work on our beautiful new wayfinding signage that we are hoping to unveil the complete project shortly!

Great American Cleanup

Our staff had a great time participating in the Great American Cleanup on Saturday, April 27. We partnered with Keep Covington Beautiful to plant flowers, weed beds, and pickup trash around 13th Street, Lee & Watkins Streets, and James Simpson Jr Way. We’re excited to continue our efforts to engage our guests, staff, and volunteers as we do our part to take care of the Earth!

Homeless to Hopeful Impact

We’re SO excited to announce that our annual Homeless to Hopeful fundraiser exceeded our goal and raised over $100,000! Thank you to everyone who attended the event, bid on an auction item, made a donation, and especially our sponsors!

Thank you again to our Co-Presenting Sponsors

St. Elizabeth Healthcare & Valuation Research Corporation

(Left to Right) ESNKY Board of Directors at Homeless to Hopeful, guest of ESNKY Lorne shares his story, auctioneer Keith Gunkel helps raise funds through the live auction.

Spring & Summer Services

As the weather turns warmer, ESNKY has returned to our summer service offerings. Daytime Navigation & Engagement Center, as well as Shower & Self-Service Laundry, are available to all adults from 10a-4p each day.

Overnight sheltering (both the Emergency Shelter and the Housing Work Program) will serve men (and adults who identify as men) all summer long.

Did you know? 2/3 of the population who are experiencing homelessness are a single adult, and the majority of them (78%) are men. This is why ESNKY “flips” our sheltering model to only serve men overnight (and adults who identify as men). Our daytime services, including Shower & Laundry and Daytime Navigation & Engagement Center, will continue to serve all adults year-round.