Homeless outreach ministry Exit 0 looking for new home
Group will continue with stress-based outreach
Exit 0 has used a garage on Spring Street and Federal Avenue for the past three years, Stensrud said. The garage has served as a storage unit for donations and as a location for those experiencing homelessness to connect with different social services. In some cases, volunteers have even kept pets there while families got back on their feet.
“In order for us to do our mission we need stuff,” Stensrud said.
Stensrud started Exit 0 about nine years ago out of his car and has accumulated a lot in that time. The outreach was primarily street-based until the garage space was donated. But now the property is expected to be sold, and Stensrud said that means Exit 0 will have to move.
“We are not done, we are losing a building,” Stensrud said.
According to Stensrud, the group has until the end of the month to empty the building. Some items are being donated to other outreach programs, others will be stored in a storage unit. Some things, such as a 33 foot shower trailer, can’t be left out in the elements and need garaged.
“It’s a difficult situation to be in. We are praying and praying. We know that God … will open another door where one closes,” Stensrud said.
This change of circumstance will alter the way Exit 0 provides services to homeless people in the area.
“We are just going to have to take it back outdoors,” Stensrud said, adding that volunteers will now bring meals into encampments or under bridges.
“It’s the way we are going to have to adapt for the time being,” he said. “It’s just going to have to be all outdoors now, in the elements. We’ve been through this before, it’s OK.”
The number of people who may be affected is hard to know, according to Keeley Stingel, executive director of the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana. She said data is “kind of conflicting because we do a point-in-time count and that’s done one day a year and it doesn’t show as great of a need as we see and have heard expressed from our service providers.”
One hurdle in finding a new building is location.
“We have a community that wants to praise these programs and how great they are… but nobody wants it in their backyard,” Stensrud said.
Another issue is the cost. With a total monthly operating budget of about $1,400 and a model that caters to grants, paying rent and utilities isn’t feasible.
If the city were to provide a space, it would solve their problems and let the outreach continue to build on its relationship with the city, Stensrud said.
“We have been here for nine years. I think we have proven ourselves,” Stensrud said.
Case in point: In a four hour period during a resource clinic in August, more than 400 in the community gathered for and utilized the resources from Exit 0, according to Stensrud. From signing people up for insurance to giving out haircuts and snack bags, Stensrud said the event was successful but “it was extremely sad that that many people in our community needed service.”
“If we can do that in one day in four hours imagine if we had a physical building in this community,” he said. “We have the volunteer base, we just don’t have the financing or the physical building. There are some amazing ones in the local area. ‘Keep up the great work’ doesn’t pay the bills.”
Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore said he “appreciates all things” Exit 0 has done but wouldn’t support the city council providing financial backing to the outreach.
“I’m in favor of helping in other ways but not financially,” he said. “I would not agree with giving taxpayer dollars to an outside entity that the city does not have control over.”
Even if the mayor is out when it comes to helping the group with a new building, Stingel said her organization is up for the task.
“Whatever ways we can meet with Exit 0 and determine how that might work, what entities we connect them with that may help with that — we would be happy to do so,” she said.
Despite spending nearly a decade in the city, Stensrud isn’t married to Jeffersonville, saying “whatever community wants to accept us, we are willing to go into and move into.”
Donations will be accepted during the transition. Cold weather items, such as sleeping bags and blankets, are accepted but Stensrud said monetary and gift card donations are the most useful considering the upcoming storage limitations.