Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

Community responds to needs

TO THE EDITORS:

I would like to express our thanks and appreciation for the tremendous community response to the newspaper's Dec. 17 article about our need to seal the leaking roof over the winter shelter for homeless women and children located in our gymnasium.

I am happy to report that, with the help of your readers and a number of other funding sources, we are able to proceed with plans to replace the leaking roof walkway with an enclosed watertight hallway. Rainwater leaks will become a thing of the past, and the women and children who use our gym to sleep in will no longer be subjected to the distress of water dripping in during a storm.

It is truly wonderful to live in such a caring community. The fact that the winter shelter exists at all is a tribute to the selfless volunteers and staff from the Lancaster County Council of Churches who organize and operate it each night from December through March.

Our gymnasium has become a harbor of refuge for as many as 45 women and children each night who have nowhere else to go. Thank you, Lancaster, for responding to their need for a dry place to sleep.

Maureen Powers

Chief Executive Officer

YWCA Lancaster