‘Sad and hard’: People seeking and serving food see early difficulties after Glory Hall halts meals for non-residents
- Mark Sabbatini
- Aug 28
- 7 min read
Campers say they’re living off everything from savings to stealing; first day at an alternative meal site gets few takers, while another longtime site was already seeing huge turnout
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
One homeless camper has enough money saved from a job to buy food for the time being. Another has a couple bags of groceries from a weekly food pantry. Yet another admits resorting to stealing.
People living on Juneau’s streets, particularly in a long row of tents along one side of Teal Street, say their situations are somewhat different since the Glory Hall shelter across the street stopped serving meals to non-residents on Tuesday. One or more police officers are usually in the area, and more campers are entering a social services building next to the shelter to access bathrooms and water.
But unhoused residents also said much of their day-to-day routines remain the same: the challenges of obtaining necessary items and care, and communal and sometimes confrontational interactions with neighbors. Some tensions are heightened, however, by being shut out of a facility whose stated mission is helping those in need.
"The one thing that we need out here is we need people that care," Ryan Travelstead, who’s been living in his car and bringing food from his workplace to his tent neighbors when possible, said early Thursday afternoon. "We need people that actually care about either making a difference or us — making a difference so that this isn't such an eyesore."
The Glory Hall announced earlier this month it was putting strict limits on access to non-residents — including ending meals and limiting care services except to people with appointments — due to concerns about the safety of shelter residents and staff that have become more pronounced during the past year.
Kaia Quinto, executive director of the Glory Hall, stated in an email Thursday afternoon the first few days of the new policy have been "sad and hard."
"I (and everyone at TGH) got into this work to help people and make TGH the best it can be and it was an impossible decision that we still are struggling with," she wrote. "Right now we are trying to focus on making TGH as peaceful and welcoming to those who stay overnight, come in for services, visit, and volunteer there. We are also making sure we are doing a lot of outreach and doing our best to make sure everyone is still getting as much assistance and support as possible."
Quinto has stated she hopes the halt to daytime access is temporary and can be restored by the time the city’s cold-weather emergency shelter opens at the south end of town on Oct. 15. She also said the Glory Hall is providing some meals to other social service organizations and facilities, as well as coordinating alternative meal programs with them.
However, the alternative arrangements amount to a handful of meals throughout the week at scattered locations in town, instead of the three meals a day served at the Glory Hall. Knowing about and getting to those locations can be difficult for people relying on word-of-mouth and perhaps bus service.
About 70 meals were being prepared Wednesday evening at a food truck in the parking lot of The Salvation Army Juneau Corps, the first of what organizations are planning to be three weekly meals served at the site. Only about half a dozen people came by to pick up a meal during the first 30 minutes of the planned 60-minute serving time, and most of those were passersby lured by volunteers serving the food.
The first to pick up a meal was Harold Lloyd Hassell II, who said he’s been mostly living downtown lately. He said it’s been about a month since he was at the Glory Hall. Beyond that he’s been surviving by getting what food he can from supermarkets and other locations.
"I'll just continue to eat when I need to and then worry about the consequences," he said. "For almost six months, until I got trespassed, I just ate what I wanted at Fred Meyer."
Other people experiencing homelessness acknowledged this week they’ve resorted to illicit means to obtain food at times, and some residents and officials have expressed concern such actions could become more frequent if reliable access to meals or provisions isn’t available.
The meals served Wednesday were being prepared and served by staff and volunteers at K̠unéix̠ Hídi Northern Light United Church, with The Salvation Army agreeing to provide the lot space at its thrift store following discussions with officials at the Glory Hall. Future meals, which are being coordinated by Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church and other entities, are scheduled to be served there from noon-1 p.m. on Mondays, and 6-7 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays — all times when the store is closed — until Oct. 15.
"The thing is that we were looking for something which is on the bus route, which doesn't cause any kind of security risk — so not close to schools or places where kids play, and things like that," Maj. Petr Janousek, co-leader of the Juneau chapter of The Salvation Army, said while the first meals were being served Wednesday. "Also, a place which we don't need special permission to use, which this is. It belongs to The Salvation Army, so it's up to me to say yes or no. And then also something where there will be no space for people to build their tents and encourage them to make another encampment somewhere else (nearby). And when you put all those things together, there are not many options."
Staff working in the truck’s kitchen on Wednesday said while the light turnout was disappointing, the hope is leftover meals will get distributed to those in need later and more people will show up during the coming weeks.
"I think if the word spreads, people will figure out how to get here," Nancy DeCherney, a church volunteer, said as she helped box the meals for easy to-go distribution to people receiving them.
Two more meals during the week are available Tuesdays and Saturdays at Resurrection Lutheran Church, which also hosts a weekly food pantry from noon to 4:30 p.m. every Tuesday. More than 30 people were lined up outside the church just before noon Tuesday — the first day after the Glory Hall’s ban on daytime access took effect — but regulars said that is a typical number.
However, Bradley Perkins, a supervisor of the church’s food program who was setting up buffet pans in the serving area for the church’s meals, said extra food was prepared in anticipation of a large crowd during what’s already been a busy past few months.
"Even last week we had 240 people — which was way up, instead of maybe 120 — because people are really getting desperate," he said.
Karen Lawfer, another church official, stated in an email Wednesday that 235 people were fed during Tuesday’s food distribution.
"Rarely does an individual come in for just a meal or just the food pantry as we are able to give patrons food requiring little if no stove or oven facilities as well as pop-top cans," she wrote. "This tides a person over from the time they have a meal in our cafeteria and their next meal."
Lawfer stated 62 people were at the church’s community meal on Saturday.
There is an interest in expanding the number of days a week the church serves meals, but that will take additional funds and helpers that don’t currently exist, Perkins said.
Among the other options for people on the streets seeking food are St. Vincent de Paul Juneau — located a block from the Glory Hall — which offers bags of food as available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, and food pantries offered by The Salvation Army from 4-6 p.m. Thursdays and the Southeast Alaska Food Bank from 3-5:30 p.m. Thursdays.
But while most of the meals and food distributions during the week are downtown, there appears to be little interest so far among people living in tents along Teal Street in relocating. Among other reasons is they are being allowed to remain if camping spaces are confined to a strictly defined strip of land, and no disruptive actions requiring police or city intervention — such as a dismantling of sites earlier this summer — occur.
"The reason why, I believe, is because people that are suffering like that, we tend to group together to cope for social mechanism," said Geoffrey Alter, who works at the Teal Street Center, a building next to the Glory Hall offering various social services. "They need each other in a way. They're not going anywhere."
A noticeable change since the Glory Hall restricted its daytime access is many of the people living in tents across the street are visiting the Teal Street Center, Alter said.
"It's impacting us in a way where we're seeing three to four times more people that are using the bathroom to take little showers in there and whatever," he said. "I don't have a problem with that at all, but that’s what I’m seeing."
Some campers interviewed Thursday said the thought of relocating downtown has entered their minds — but not for easier access to food.
"I would like to organize all of us together so we go sit down at Marine Park until they tell (the shelter director) to stop kicking everybody out of here," said Curtis Davis, who lived in various spots throughout Juneau in recent years.
Some of the people now in tents will start sleeping indoors again when the city’s cold-weather shelter in Thane opens in about six weeks. Quinto, as the Glory Hall’s director, said she’s hoping that and other adjustments in the meantime will resolve enough concerns that daytime access is again available for people unable to get beds at her shelter.
"(We are) just trying to focus on what the future looks like and how we can make this change temporary and get back to day services for everyone," she wrote.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
