35 displaced after fire at Montgomery County women's shelter

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Beds are covered and plastic and belongings left behind after an emergency exit at Interfaith Works' women's homeless shelter.

“Mid-day, Fourth of July, one of our staff members noticed there was a fire," said Courtney Hall, CEO of Interfaith Works. "Apparently there was an electrical issue with one of the exhaust fans. Caught fire, spread in the wall and damaged the kitchen area, the shower area, one of our medical suites as well. The damage is pretty extensive."

Hall says the blaze nearly reached the shelter’s lounge.

“There were no injuries, which is amazing," said Hall. "Especially since, when the fire happened, it was kind of around lunch time when people would have been in that area.”

Interfaith Works is a nonprofit in Montgomery County that operates four shelters for people experiencing homelessness. The shelter that was damaged Thursday exclusively houses women. Now 35 of them can’t return for at least two months.

“Something like this happening is definitely a setback," said Hall. "There are women that have already been traumatized just from the experience of homelessness and to be displaced, even if it’s for two months or so, to then be displaced to somewhere else, having to sort of reconfigure your mind so that you can get back on track and get back to accomplishing your goals. It’s challenging, it’s challenging.”

The residents that live at the shelter have temporarily moved into a safe place while repairs are being made, but before they can move back in, Interfaith Works could use your help.

"The one thing I’ll say is that we need prepared meals. We don’t have the facilities at the new site that we have here. We don’t have a warming oven. We have microwaves, that’s about it," said Hall. "We don’t have dishwashers and things like that so we’re looking for paper goods and hot meals, fully prepared meals, if people want to bring sandwiches and things like that."

The next several weeks will be challenging, but Hall is already encouraged by the generosity he’s seen so far from volunteers and strangers.

"Before we had a chance to put it out publicly, they were already marshalling themselves, figuring out how they could help," said Hall. "Donating food, donating money and the response has been overwhelming in a positive way."

If you would like to donate food or make a financial donation, visit Interfaith Works' website here.

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