(Riverton, WY) – Eagles Hope Transitions of Riverton has pledged to gift the former Good Samaritan Center property on Washington Avenue to a new community group that’s working to start a homeless shelter in town.
The new organization – Riverton’s Mercy House – hopes to raise enough money in the coming months to improve the buildings on the property and put them to use “as soon as possible,” RMH Board Chair Grace Andrus said this week, thanking Eagles Hope for their support.
“They are wonderful,” Andrus said, adding, “We envision this as being a very cohesive and complementary operation” with Eagles Hope – an organization that does not accept intoxicated clients.
Riverton’s Mercy House will accept intoxicated individuals, Andrus said, as long as “they are not violent and are not so intoxicated that they need medical help.”
If those individuals “choose to get on a path to sobriety,” Andrus said there will be a “reward system” in place for them at Mercy House, and “we will have people available to talk with them and help them through that process.”
“Our goal is to basically try to have them share with us how they got to where they’re at so we can better help them go forward and get better,” Andrus said.
After that, Eagles Hope Transitions Director Devin Anderson said his organization could step in and offer additional support to the people who have “already got sober and (who) want to keep staying sober.”
The Good Samaritan property exchange will take place after Riverton’s Mercy House receives its 501(c)3 nonprofit status from the IRS, Anderson said, calling the gift “the right thing to do.”
“We’re really excited that it’s going to be continued to be used as a shelter and helping people,” he said.
Mercy House
Riverton’s Mercy House Board of Directors includes Andrus; Vice-Chair Kimberly Hummel; Treasurer Rowena Bland; Secretary Christie Dunn; board members Scott Komrs, Cindy Snider, and Greg Linfoot; and non-voting board member Ian McFarland.
Andrus said they were part of a larger community group that had been working with city officials to try to address the issue of homelessness in Riverton.
As part of that effort, several members of the larger community group formed the Riverton Rescue Mission, which received funding from the City of Riverton, the Fremont County Commission, and other local groups to study the feasibility of operating a homeless shelter in town.
After the study was completed, the Riverton Rescue Mission determined that the project was not feasible for them – and that’s when Mercy House stepped in, Andrus said.
“I spoke with people that I knew had a desire to help, and to do something for the community, and we decided to form a group,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Well I have a group of people, and we’re ready to step up.’”
Andrus said that once it’s open, Riverton’s Mercy House will employ about 10 people, including intake staffers, a director, and eventually a manager.
Plans are already in place to establish an Alcoholics Anonymous program at the shelter, she said, anticipating that other services will be developed based on the needs of future clients and in partnership with other community groups.
“We will reach out for resources,” Andrus said.
The Mercy House mission is “to one day help those struggling with homelessness in our community find a path to rebuild their lives,” she told the Riverton City Council during a meeting last month.
“When Mercy House opens it will be more than just a shelter,” Andrus said. “We plan to offer a safe place to rest, clean facilities for showers and laundry, nutritious meals, and most importantly, a compassionate ear – someone who genuinely cares and is ready to listen. With your support this vision can become a reality. We’re asking for our community to work together to bring hope and healing and a path forward to those who need it.”
The organization is faith-based, Andrus said, because “the people who are involved are people of faith, and the idea is that we want to be showing kindness and love towards others” – but Mercy House isn’t connected to a specific church, and clients “don’t have to have a faith” in order to utilize the shelter.
For more information visit the Riverton’s Mercy House Facebook page.