Hotels for Homeless, a Bloomington nonprofit, responded to the severe winter weather sweeping the Midwest by providing hotel rooms for unhoused people in the community.
Bloomington reached below zero temperatures the week of Jan. 15, leaving many people without access to sufficient shelter and vulnerable to unsafe conditions.
Katie Norris, executive director of Hotels for Homeless, said within a week of Jan. 7 during the temperature drop, they housed 63 people in hotel rooms.
Norris said she started the nonprofit during the COVID-19 pandemic after realizing the effect it had on homelessness. The organization expanded from her helping a family in need of housing to helping many people in the Bloomington community.
The organization has several available resources for people in need, such as help during a job search, food and housing.
“From experience over the last four years, when it gets really cold, you find out how many people sleep outside,” said Norris.
Norris said she gets her best estimate of the number of people needing these services during their Christmas program. During this program, Hotels for Homeless provides hotel rooms for all unhoused people on Christmas Eve, in addition to educating them on the available resources for the winter.
“The Christmas program is the one day of the year where we know that without a doubt, we are going to get to help everybody who sleeps outside,” said Norris.
Cheryl Cauldwell, who stayed in a hotel room and used other services this winter, said that the organization has been a blessing.
Cauldwell said she went out and fundraised from around the community on her own to pay for part of her family's stay at the hotel. She said she hoped that doing so would save some money for others who needed hotel rooms in times of need as well.
Cauldwell said she had turned her experience as a recipient of the organization’s help into becoming a volunteer.
“This situation has opened my eyes to a whole other realm of being homeless,” Caldwell said.
Cauldwell said if she had not been connected with Norris and Hotels for Homeless, it would have been a challenging winter for her and her family.
“It has been a place for me to stay, a place for me to learn new resources, and a place to meet new people,” Cauldwell said.
Jonathan, who also received help from Hotels for Homeless services, said the Bloomington community has been helpful in this winter weather.
“If you talk to any one of us, we are so thankful, because it has been extremely cold the last few days,” Jonathan said.
