From Unhoused to Home: Off The Streets assists those seeking permanent shelter
Off The Streets is a nonprofit organization based in Middletown, one of eight chapters in Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington. The national group was founded in 2009 by Michael Oles, a Catholic church deacon from Danbury, Conn.
In 2013, Oles moved to Lancaster and started Off The Streets there. Lancaster remains the busiest chapter in terms of the number of people helped, said Mary Ellen May, president of the Middletown chapter.
All chapters are affiliated with the Catholic church, though they're nondenominational regarding their volunteers and the people being helped, May said.
The Middletown chapter was launched in March 2023 following an informational meeting at Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, the church affiliated with Off The Streets in Middletown.
The group assists unhoused individuals and families by providing money for the security deposit needed to move into an apartment or house. This assistance is provided directly to the landlord.
Off The Streets also provides donated furniture to these people, including beds and bedding, dressers, chairs, tables, kitchenware and other household goods. The organization relies on human service agencies and school districts throughout Dauphin County for referrals to the chapter of those in need.
The chapter targets those who have the means to make monthly rent payments, once they overcome the security deposit hurdle. Off The Streets does not have the resources to provide ongoing rental assistance.
Each chapter sets its own amount as the maximum provided toward a security deposit, based upon the local economy and rental housing market. The Middletown chapter pays up to $1,000 towards a security deposit.
Sometimes $1,000 is more than enough, or it may not be enough for a family looking to rent a larger house, May said.
"I make sure people understand upfront how much we can give them because we want to be able to help as many people as we can," she said.
Once people move in, Off The Streets delivers the donated furniture and household goods to them, something May believes is unique to other nonprofits in this area.
"There are certainly places where folks can go to look at furniture and pick out furniture, but usually they are paying $50 to $75 for a carload or truckload of furniture to take home, plus they have to have a means of transportation to pick the furniture up," May said.
Before anything is delivered, Off The Streets volunteers visit the apartment or house to see what is needed and the type of space the person or family has moved into.
Except for mattresses and some bedding, all furniture and household items are donated to Off The Streets. But the chapter—especially Mary Ellen's husband Dennis, who coordinates this part of the mission—is very picky about what is accepted and ultimately delivered.
"If we wouldn't have it in our home, if we wouldn't give it to our kids, we don't want it," May said. "So he [Dennis] says no to a lot of potential furniture donations.
Need Is Great
Since starting in 2023, the Middletown chapter has assisted more than 330 people— mostly single women with children—and provided over $70,000 toward security deposits.
That makes Middletown the third busiest of all Off The Streets chapters, following Lancaster and the chapter in Toledo, Ohio.
Most of the assistance has gone to people moving into apartments and houses in Harrisburg. Others are in Middletown and along the Route 230 corridor, May said.
Off The Streets has received some grants. Otherwise, they rely on donations of money and items and on the group's fundraisers. A golf tournament that the chapter held in Londonderry Township in September netted $6,900.
The group has no paid staff, relying solely on volunteers, including May and Dunklau, who lives with his wife and daughter near Italian Lake. Dunklau helps Off The Streets deliver and set up furniture and household items in the apartments and houses.
Working with Off The Streets has been a learning experience for Dunklau, seeing firsthand the challenge of homelessness in Dauphin County.
"More often than not, we're getting connected with single mothers who have multiple children or just families with multiple children who didn't have a stable housing situation," he said. "The need and extent of the housing demand for folks who are either coming off the streets or who may be just lower income and who need a place to stay is great."
As of early October, Off The Streets had a list of 28 families waiting for furniture, May said. If a family doesn't have beds, Off The Streets tries to deliver beds within a week of the family moving in.
Otherwise, the chapter does just one furniture delivery each week, due to the limited number of volunteers and pickup trucks available.
"The more volunteers we have, the more people we can help," May said.
