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Homelessness spotlighted at chamber luncheon

The next nationwide outreach and headcount of homeless people is just more than a month away, and organizers on the Kenai Peninsula are in the midst of preparing for the 2020 Project Homeless Connect.
    The program is nationwide on the same day, on Jan. 29, and in the Central Peninsula will be held at the Soldotna Sports Center. Homer and Seward are planning their first Project Homeless Connect events in 2020 as well.
    Jodi Stuart handles promotion for the local event.
    “So I am the Project Homeless Connect media person which is the reason why I'm here and I will be always the voice of the voiceless,” Stuart said. “Those people that are experiencing homelessness and homelessness are not going to be up here to talk to you today.”
    Stuart explained to the Kenai and Soldotna chambers of commerce luncheon audience how Project Homeless Connect attempts to help those experiencing homelessness.

“So that's 250 students in our school district, which is a staggering number."

    “So the cool thing (about) Project Homeless Connect is: we didn't think of it. I'm always a big proponent of stealing other people's great ideas. And so this has been an ongoing project all around the nation. And it continues to be the number one way that HUD provides funding for services in regards to housing and homelessness. So this one-day event, is one to provide awareness, two its to provide an opportunity for individuals experiencing homelessness and near-homelessness, to have access to services that they couldn't necessarily get to,” Stuart said. “Transportation in our community is one of our biggest struggles. We don't have a bus system. We don't have the infrastructure for a bus system, and our public transportation system -- and I can put the little hat on I am a KARTS board member -- is not functional in regards to serving people that are marginalized. It just isn’t."
    Also at Wednesday’s chamber lunch were students of the quarter from Nikiski and Kenai high schools. One of them was Hunter Beck, a senior at KCHS who coincidentally has his own homelessness event happening this Friday night.
    He and classmate Elizabeth Hansen are hosting a spaghetti feed and silent auction for the homeless students in the school district’s “Transitions Program.”
    “So that's 250 students in our school district, which is a staggering number. I honestly thought it was somewhere more like 10-15, but 250 students qualify for the federal definition of homelessness,” Beck said. “And so this just goes through a program that helps them get transportation basic necessities, school supplies, and everything like that.”
    Beck said the event is really a reboot of something his older sister had done before him.
    “My sister's senior year -- my sister was Abby Beck, and she hosted this event. And then once she left the school, the program didn't have this event supporting them anymore,” he said. “And so I just wanted to start it up again and then hopefully get the ball rolling so that they can continue doing it for the future years.”
    The spaghetti feed and silent auction will be in the Kenai Central High School cafeteria on Friday night at 6 p.m. Beck says there is over a thousand dollars worth of auction items donated by local businesses.