More people are in need of a place to lay their head at night. The Roanoke Rescue Mission has been overcapacity for the past several months.
"There are nights I feel like the old woman in the shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do," said Joy Sylvester-Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of the Roanoke Rescue Mission.
In fact one night recently 429 people including 72 children stayed at the Rescue Mission. The numbers went up in August and again last month and it's expected they will continue going up. The economy is one reason and the cold weather is another, according to Sylvester-Johnson. A couple of other area agencies that used to house some of the area's homeless no longer do, said Sylvester-Johnson.
"We are meeting daily to figure out how we can put more beds in. We are trying to figure out how we can rearrange the space we have," said Sylvester-Johnson. "We're looking to see if there's anywhere else we can put people. We've increased our staff to make it safe for folks to come in."
Sylvester-Johnson says she doesn't expect things to get better for the next year or two.
The Rescue Mission is always in need of items. Click here to see the Wish List.
