A Community's Kindness and Reno Resolutions
Readers reach out after we profiled a local woman in need, while responding to a survey for 2023 resolutions.
After we featured Cortney (in photo below) pleading for help under pouring rain as her money had run out to house herself, her wife and her dogs, a reader volunteered to bring her a healthy meal, a City of Reno employee said she would work with her to find long-term solutions and a local comedian with a golden heart got her a room for a few days until the end of the year.
Cortney’s wife should get her twice a month $900 pay for working at a makeup factory today, Friday, so hopefully they can get back on their feet with this extra help from the community.
In terms of 2023 resolutions for themselves and Reno, one follower on Twitter wished for more meditation and trees. We couldn’t agree more. On Facebook, Joyce Kay Cowdin, who has gone from unhoused, to living in a motel, to getting a subsidized apartment in recent years, wrote: “My New Year's resolution is for our City government [to] start doing things to help the people that are struggling the most. Not just their big corporate donors.”
We’ve talked about safe parking but when will a pilot project at least be tried here with hundreds of people sleeping in their cars and vans along the Truckee River and on side streets? What about starting a few other safe camps, beyond the Karma Box Project run ModPods inside the Cares Campus? What about distributing more vouchers for motel rooms? A shelter night in Washoe County costs an estimated $74 per night. A weekly runs about $200-$250 per week. You do the math.
Time and time again, studies have shown any type of housing helps with underlying issues of chronic homelessness, while direct aid is always more effective than going through non-profits or government agencies. We say empower the people in need if you really want to help them get back onto healthier tracks.
More of Our Reporting Highlights this Week
Our #keeprenorad section highlighted Chris Reynolds from a Cold Stone Creamery now located inside the new Reno Public Market and how he survived the pandemic: https://www.ourtownreno.com/keeping-reno-rad/2022/12/20/cold-stones-how-a-local-creamery-owner-found-success
Our podcast episode this week is with the Daylovers, promoting polyamory from their base here in Reno: https://ourtownreno.simplecast.com/episodes/the-daylovers-promoting-polyamory
One of our social media posts with the most comments was above about ramifications of the Southwest debacle for those living in the Biggest Little City.
Let’s keep fighting the good fight and #helpeachother in 2023.