Nome’s only overnight shelter opened over a decade ago. Since then, it has opened each winter, and this year will be its longest season ever. The Nome Emergency Shelter Team (NEST), opened its doors at the Karmun Center for the season on Oct. 1. It’s slated to be open every night from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. until mid-May.
The Nome Community Center runs the overnight shelter. Executive Director Kimberly Bishop said it’s never had a season run that long before. She said the request for the extension came from the Nome community.
NEST began as a volunteer-run, grassroots effort in 2009 with the Nome Community Center taking it on in 2016.
“It was hard to sustain as a volunteer operation, they didn't have the staffing capacity and funding,” Bishop said. “So Nome Community Center has a habit of taking things on as the community needs.”
The shelter offered hot food, but Bishop said staff was limited and the shelter could use volunteers to help cook.
“We look for help to provide cooked meals so that our clients can have a warm meal when they come in at night,” Bishop said.
Bishop said NEST and Nome Community Center staff also help clients sign up for Social Security benefits, apply for jobs, and access other services.
“There's also those that want to go through treatment that would like to work towards sobriety, so we help connect them with that,” Bishop said. “And then the other one is through us with our food bank. And sometimes it's getting clothing, too.”
Bishop said NEST partners with Norton Sound Health Corporation to run its own day shelter. People without housing can seek shelter there during the day and come to NEST at night.
At the Nov. 10 city council meeting, councilman Mark Johnson sent in comments that called for a dedicated police presence at NEST to address “rising concern” about disturbances from the facility.
Bishop acknowledged that the shelter draws some mixed opinions, but she said that isolated incidents aren’t indicative of the work they do.
“I think a lot of people don't think about that aspect of it, So there's a lot of biases, and, you know, they've had a bad experience with one individual or whatnot, there tends to be some negativity towards what we're doing,” Bishop said.
She said that the intention behind the shelter is to help the community by providing a safe place in the winter time.
“Rural Alaska is just challenging itself, with the remote portion of it, lack of access to things, the higher cost of living here,” Bishop said. “And then there's different reason that we have each of our programs.”
You can connect with NEST by calling 907-443-5259.
