What About Tonight?
Aug 18, 2025
Over the past few months, ESNKY has participated in several important conversations led by regional stakeholders about housing, workforce development, and healthcare. These conversations matter, and we’re proud to be there on behalf of the guests we serve. But, while our region looks forward, our guests are still asking one simple question:
What about tonight?
Your donation helps answer that question. Keeping the doors open, the lights on, and lets someone who has nowhere else to go know they’re not alone.
Because while those planning sessions go forward, people are still showing up at our door tonight, and every night, with nowhere else to go. It’s happening to older adults who are being priced out of their homes, to people coming from the hospital or to those in recovery, in crisis, or just worn out from being told “no.” And if you’re one of the thousands of guests we serve, you don’t need a focus group. You need a clean bed, a hot shower, and someone who treats you like a human being. We can’t tell you that “our region will have income-aligned housing for you in five years” when you need shelter and services tonight.
That’s what ESNKY provides, and what your gift makes possible.
We offer consistent, walk-up-to-the-door Emergency Shelter, short-term RISE Program, longer-term Housing Work Program, Navigation & Engagement Center, Shower & Laundry, onsite Healthcare Clinic, Street Outreach, with services running 24/7/365. ESNKY specializes in meeting our neighbors exactly where they are, day or night. That includes during 100-year rainstorms, when wildfire smoke fills the sky, deadly heat, extreme freezes, or when someone is left outside for no reason other than poverty, illness, or stigma.
So, this is where we need your help. Our costs, like yours, are going up. One night of shelter, which includes meals, showers, clean clothing, and peer support, now costs $55.50. Our annual gas and electric have gone up 16.45% to $22,466.93, and our annual water bill has increased 40.24% to $17,839.32 (lots of showers and laundry). That’s why we’re asking for your support right now.
Your gift means that when someone asks, “What about tonight?”, the answer is
“Yes, you can sleep right here.”
With grace and gratitude,
Kim M. Webb
Chief Executive Officer
Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky