Underdog Street Ministries closes, even as homelessness climbs in Elko County

ELKO — After 15 years of service to Elko's homeless community, Underdog Street Ministries has closed down.

The organization's closure comes as a new report shows homelessness in Elko County has nearly doubled from a year earlier.

The nonprofit supported Elko's homeless by serving food in Railroad Park every Sunday and visiting encampments to hand out tents and sleeping bags — as well as hosting uplifting events like karaoke parties and Christmas dinners.

Underdog Street Ministries also helped homeless individuals find permanent housing and obtain IDs.

Founder and former director Kimberly Clements said the organization's journey came to an end for a couple of reasons.

The first was a lack of donations.

"After COVID-19, we never really recovered as far as people coming and assisting us with our lunches," she said. The group struggled to find enough volunteers to cook meals and visit camps, Clements explained.

"We had a couple churches supporting us and helping us out, but it just wasn't enough," she said. "The numbers we had attending on Sundays were close to 100 coming to eat and get groceries. And it was just getting too much for the few of us left," she said.

Then, tragedy struck earlier this year.

"My husband passed away five months ago," she said. "Because we were a community-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit, without the folks coming back we just couldn't do it. We didn't have enough volunteers and folks helping out."

In addition, she had to find a way to support herself. "Because we are not paid positions — we're volunteers here at Underdog — I'll have to get a paid job, too. I can't do that plus run Underdog full-time," Clements said.

"Oct. 27 was our last day. It was just me and a couple of family members left. We love this community and we hated to close it down after 15 years — but, unfortunately, that was the position we were in," she said.

"We're still getting phone calls asking for assistance and asking for help and I really don't know where to send people," she said. "Elko needs that. We need that in our community. And it's something we are lacking in."

Earlier this week, data from an annual survey of homelessness found Elko County's homeless population has nearly doubled from a year ago.

Elko County's homeless population went from 26 individuals in 2023 to 46 people this year, according to the Rural Nevada Continuum of Care's Point-in-Time Count, produced by Friends In Service Helping, the nonprofit community service organization.

Roughly half of the homeless population is unsheltered, with the vast majority — 74% — residing in outdoor encampments.

Last year, over two dozen people in Elko County experienced homelessness, 12 of them "couch surfing" or sheltered in some form and 14 living on the streets unsheltered, according to the 2023 Point-in-Time Count.