Birds of a Feather: Getting to Know Welcome Home Chattanooga
Each newsletter, we’ll spotlight a different group out there doing the hard work - maybe helping unhoused folks, maybe rescuing animals, but ALWAYS keeping this whole ecosystem of care alive. Because every piece matters, and together, we’re building something bigger than any one of us.
For the first Newsletter - we’re talking with Sherry Campbell from Welcome Home Chattanooga, a nonprofit group that provides housing for medical care and hospice for members of the unhoused community. Please check out their Website!
TDK-Lets begin by sharing the origin story of Welcome Home Chattanooga
SC: I was the social worker for a local hospice for about 11 years and while I was there, I kept meeting people that had nowhere to go. At one point, I was working at the hospital and I was actually discharging people back to the street. There is just nowhere for them to go.
TDK
One thing that really shocked me when we originally talked, was that people were actually graduating out of hospice care at the facility. I had to really think about that, can you talk about that?
SC: It was a surprise for us too, but when you think about it, it really makes sense. People that are living outside tend to die 20 years younger than those of us that are housed. So when you move someone in, especially someone with a chronic disease, and they start having their basic needs met, and they're reminded that they're loved and that they're important and valued and people care about them. You start living again
Homelessness is life threatening. So once you resolve that, people start feeling better and they start living. They might still have a chronic condition like liver disease or lung disease, but they're not dying from it.
TDK:
What is one thing that you would like the world to know about your mission?
SC: A lot of people, when we bring up the ‘hospice’ word, start picturing depressing, morbid and gloom and doom, but it's actually very holy and sacred ground. It's quite an honor to be with somebody as they're leaving this world. It's an honor to be with people that are entering this world at birth, and then the same at the end of their life; to be able to sit with them and be in that holy ground. It can be beautiful.
TDK
In terms of the upcoming year, what are some of the challenges that Welcome Home Chattanooga is facing, and how are you facing them?
SC: Well, housing is one of them. Our cancer respite program is transitional housing; so people move in and then we help them find housing. Because we're committed to not sending people back out to the street just because they're cancer treatments over with. Right now we have a growing waiting list and the people that are in our cancer respite program have had difficulty finding affordable housing. The voucher program has ended, or is paused for right now, so that's a bottleneck for us. One of the things that we're doing to try to mitigate that, is reaching out to area landlords and thinking of creative ways to resolve housing.
Also forming partnerships with Organizations like Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise and some of the property management places in town because we will always back our residents. We have a staff member that just follows our graduates and visits them in their home to make sure that they have what they need to be successful.
TDK
What projects do you have in the works that you are excited about?
SC: We have plans in the future to build new homes because we have space on our property to build more homes, but until then we're just focusing on improving our care every day. Making sure that we are meeting the needs and listening to our people, and improving where we need to improve. Make sure our staff have adequate training.
We have a Demystifying Death Program which we're planning for next year. And we really wanna increase awareness around that; teaching people about death, dying, and grief.
TDK
So for folks outside of Chattanooga, or for those folks that are in Chattanooga, how can we get involved and help?
SC: We have lots of volunteer opportunities!
We also have other ways to support us through in-kind donations. We have a wish list on Amazon and Walmart. And then, of course, financial donations and definitely prayer. Prayer, of all faiths, is interwoven in everything.
TDK
Last question; tell me something that inspires you from day-to-day?
SC: I don't even have to think about that;. It's the people here. They are incredible and resilient and courageous and they've helped me be a better person. I just love all the people here so much