Officials: Moses Lake Sleep Center a success

MOSES LAKE — Just more than two months since its opening, Moses Lake’s Sleep Center is seeing success, officials said.

According to a press release from the City of Moses Lake, the Sleep Center provided shelter for 70 individuals, cumulating 650 nights.

The goal of the center is more than just shelter, the release stated. By partnering with organizations such as Grant Integrated Services, the state Department of Social and Health Services, Compass Career Solutions and the Housing Authority of Grant County, professionals are pairing those in need with opportunities and skills for a permanent transition out of homelessness. This includes the North Central Washington Recovery Coalition, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous for those struggling with addiction.

Moses Lake resident Jerome Mead said the Sleep Center kept him inside from the freezing cold. HopeSource hooked him up with treatment opportunities.

“I’m a little nervous,” Mead said in a video testimony. “But happy to start a new journey. A new chapter of my life.”

Serve Moses Lake is also involved with the Sleep Center by providing sack lunches to the Moses Lake Food Bank, which gives food to those in the center. Individuals, too, have donated hot meals and supplies, and even sponsored transitional stays at hotels between stable housing.

Moses Lake resident Trevor Shaffer has been homeless for two and a half years, he said in a video testimony. His favorite part of the Sleep Center is the hard-working staff.

“It brought us this opportunity to have a home, or a roof over our head if we needed at any time, and a shower when we definitely freakin’ sometimes need it,” he said.

Beyond a shelter, the Sleep Center is a holistic program, said Moses Lake housing and grants coordinator Taylor Burton.

“The Sleep Center is a program designed to support those that want to change their lives and begin the road to ending homelessness,” he said in the release. “This program may be fledgling, but the potential to end homelessness in our community is great. With the continued support of the community and the amazing work of HopeSource, there is hope that change can be accomplished.”

According to the press release, the Sleep Center has helped 11 individuals transition out of homelessness. Four of these guests attained stable housing through the Grant County Housing Authority, and three were able to use the Sleep Center to get the stability for gainful employment.

One of these individuals is Michael Guertin, who had a mental breakdown and ended up homeless with nowhere to go, he said in a video. He and Sara Byrd, his pregnant fiancee, ended up at the Sleep Center.

“We got a place, an apartment,” Byrd said. “We’re doing a lot better these days now, happy that little one is almost here, and we’re getting through life a lot better.”

Christopher Guertin and Maranda Walling were kicked out of their home during the pandemic, they said in a video. With no options, they took their two kids to the Sleep Center.

On night four, Guertin said, they were approved for housing.

“Man, it’s been a life-changer,” he said. “It’s been an uphill battle until we got into the Sleep Center.”

The Sleep Center is just the beginning, said Burton. In addition, the city’s ad hoc homeless committee has laid the groundwork for converting the El Rancho Motel to an enhanced shelter. Also to be managed by HopeSource, these wrap-around services would be included and expanded upon at the new location.

Former Mayor Dick Deane endorsed the new location, citing a similar successful facility in Ellensburg he has seen firsthand.