40-Bed Homeless Shelter to Open in Prince Frederick

Project ECHO, a homeless shelter in Calvert County, is opening this month after three years of planning and construction.

The nearly $2.7 million shelter will have 40 beds -- 20 for men and 20 more for women and children -- and, if federal funding is approved, a family suite in its new Prince Frederick building. That space was the driving force behind building the shelter, officials said.

"Men call on a daily basis looking for bed space, and I have to turn them away," said Lori Hony, who started with the shelter as a volunteer when it opened at Linden House in 1993 and now manages it.

By midday Monday, Hony had turned down five men; the shelter doesn't open for a few weeks.

The old shelter had 20 beds for women and children and six for men and boys 12 and older, she said. Hony said that for the past three years, she had to turn away 125 to 150 people annually because the 60-year-old house was full.

Bill Stanton, president of the Project ECHO board of directors, began volunteering at the shelter in 1997. In that time, he said, he has seen a steady increase in need.

"I think it is not only a question of serving the homeless but it is also a question of how you serve them," Stanton said.

He said the old shelter had a substandard kitchen for preparing meals and a small living room that didn't allow for much interaction.

The Prince Frederick shelter has classroom space and large common areas, which Stanton said would accommodate classes and training.

The Ecumenical Coalition for the Homeless has partnered with several groups, such as the Calvert County Literacy Council, the county health department and the College of Southern Maryland, to bring services to its clients instead of coordinating to provide transportation for them, as was done in the past.

The classes will "provide our clients with life-skills training so they have some skill they didn't have when they came to the shelter," Stanton said, "giving them a leg up and a better opportunity to succeed when they leave the shelter."

ECHO House is built on land owned by the Calvert County Housing Authority, which also owns the building, agency Director Wayne Boyle said. Project ECHO will pay an annual rent of $1, helping the shelter maintain its charitable status, he said.

"We are trying to help as many people as we can to become productive members of society," Boyle said.

Project ECHO receives federal, state and county grants, as well as donations, to make up its $180,000 annual budget, Stanton said. The old shelter filled nearly 6,600 beds, which is about $27 per person per night, he said.

The shelter will not fill to capacity immediately, because more staff members need to be hired and volunteers trained.

Hony said that she hopes a new executive director will help find more funding for the facility and that the shelter can accomplish its goals on a limited budget.

"If there is a way to do it, we will do it," she said.