BEDS FOR HOMELESS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 394, 30 June 1928, Page 12

BEDS FOR HOMELESS

SHELTER OPENS MONDAY MORE BLANKETS WANTED Sixty new beds } each with pillow, sheet and two blankets, will be ready for the homeless men of the city on Monday night. The conversion of a wholesale store just above the Parnell rise into the shelter is almost complete, the main room having been cleaned and fitted out with 50 stretchers. The back room which has an open fireplace will have another 10 beds, and if there are more than 60 applicants for shelter, there is a basement which can be used. The shelter is an immense improvement on the old “doss-house.” The Rev. Grant Cowen, the chairman of the committee in charge, who was superintending the work to-day, said, “We are trying to give the men something decent. Each man will get a of cocoa or coffee at night. The doors will open at 7 o’clock and everybody will have to be out by 8 a.m.” In the basement there will be washbasins and a water supply. All the bedding will be disinfected daily, the Health Department having appointed an officer to instruct the committee in the best method. Mr. F. Potter, the superintendent, said, “We are pretty certain to get from 100 to 120 men in here each night.” About 40 blankets have been given to the committee, but the Rev. Grant Cowen wants 120 more so that he will not have to go to the big expense of buying them.