Community Concerns with Shannon
This week’s question comes from Bri Marie in Dresden. She asked, “Why can’t the city of Dresden get a place free for homeless people so they can get out of the cold during the winter? There’s a lot of people homeless here close to home.”
I reached out to Sandra Taylor who is over Be The Village in Dresden, which helps foster children and also helped for a year after the tornado hit Dresden and she has started a homeless shelter for, not just Weakley County, but all of West Tennessee. It’s called Margaret’s Place and the mission statement is “To advocate for a future where homeless individuals are loved and cared for while at the same time expected to work towards self-sustaining futures. Teach people to live in healthy, supportive relationships, which provide spiritual, emotional and physical support with personal accountability.”
Taylor said that the biggest reason she started it was doing research and realizing how many people in Weakley and surrounding counties were homeless. “I just felt like there was a big need.” Taylor has partnered with Carey Counseling and has been reaching out to other organizations to partner with to better help the people in Weakley County and surrounding communities needing help.
Taylor gets referrals from Carey Counseling, Sheriff’s Departments and also just people calling her with a specific person that is in need. She is not releasing the location of the shelter at this time, other than it’s located in Dresden, but said that anyone that needs help can call her at 1-931-607-8607 anytime of the day or night.
Taylor said she does not turn anyone away and what the shelter does is provide beds, a kitchen, bathroom, laundry facilities and shower, which is all temporary until people get back on their feet, which Taylor and other organizations partnered with her help them to do through resources.
Margaret’s Place helps individuals secure permanent housing, find a job, finish their education, get mental and substance abuse help and much more. The first week Taylor opened her shelter, she had a total of seven individuals seeking help, one of them a child.
“The best part is that we are temporary and we’re able to help individuals get back on their feet. We help give them direction to build themselves back up. We don’t do it for them—we do it alongside them.”
Taylor is looking for donations of food as well as volunteers to help out at the facility. Taylor said she would love to see people in the county become involved in this. If anyone in the county is interested, they can contact Taylor through Facebook or her cell. Margaret’s Place Grouphome/Shelter | Dresden TN | Facebook
We hope to be able to answer a question every week from a member of the community. Just send us your questions by Monday every week. Email questions to smerrell1@murraystate.edu, text questions to 731-819-4497, stop by the office, give us a call at 731-587-3144 and ask for Shannon or message us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We look forward to serving the community better by answering the concerns you may have surrounding any issues in Weakley County.
