UMOM shelter seeks funding to repair damage
Refuge for homeless families was partially flooded by monsoon
A Phoenix shelter for homeless families was damaged by floodwaters during Thursday night’s storm and is working to restore a dozen rooms and a broken elevator.
UMOM New Day Centers on 3333 E. Van Buren St., which provides a temporary stay for homeless families,is seeking thepublic’s assistance to help pay for repairs.
The strong storm flooded 12 of the facility’s 150 family rooms and caused the only elevator in one of its three-story buildings to stop working, said Alex Scoville, communications coordinator.
“No one was hurt, thank goodness,” she said.
A day after the storm passed, those damaged rooms still were filled with trash, mold and damp clothes.
The storm also caused several trees on the property to fall, watered-out a staff office and damaged several staff vehicles.
But it didn’t hurt any families and none was displaced, Scoville said.
Families forced to wait
The day centers had exactly 12 other rooms vacant, so families whose rooms were flooded were able to move in, she said. But that caused 12 families who were on top of a waiting list to remain homeless until the rooms get recovered, she said.
Scoville said restoring the damage as quickly as possible is crucial for the day centers, as “dozens and dozens” of homeless families are waiting to move in.
Most of the water inside and outside of the day centers had been drained by Friday evening, but a lot of cleanup was left to do, Scoville said.
Water flooded a mechanical room that operates the elevator, causing it to malfunction.
Repairs to the elevator, along with the cleaning, will cost “tens of thousands of dollars,” Scoville said.
A haven for homeless families
UMOM New Day Centers has been providing temporarily housing for more than 170 homeless families in the Valley since 1964. It describes itself as Arizona’s largest shelter for homeless families.
Scoville said a family in the emergency housing program may stay up to four months and a family in the transitional housing program may stay up to two years.
Those who want to help the facility can go to umom.thankyou4caring.org /donate to donate.