ITS HUH News & Updates

water well failure at soup kitchen and shelters

9/5/2019

A water well failure at Bastrop County’s only soup kitchen and homeless shelter has forced the closure of the facility and the relocation of its needy families.
Pastor Roland Nava, who runs In the Streets Hand Up High Ministry, the nonprofit that operates the shelter and soup kitchen along Texas 95 north of Bastrop, is now asking for donations to fix the well.
The shelter discovered the well failure Aug. 29 and spent the day finding new arrangements for the four families living in the facility’s housing units. Without running water, Nava said, the shelter is unable to provide showers, drinking water or restrooms. The issue has also forced the closure of the soup kitchen, which has had to turn away 75 to 100 people daily.
“We can’t wash dishes or anything,” Nava said. “This whole property is run on that one well.”
A water well service technician last week found that the issue stemmed from an electrical failure in the well’s water tank, which will require a replacement of the entire water tank, Nava said.
The well service company estimated the total cost for repairs are $5,500. Nava is making an appeal to the public for further help.
It is unclear when the soup kitchen and shelter will reopen.
The well failure comes at a time when the ministry is struggling to raise money for an emergency shelter. Last month, donations for the construction project came to a standstill as the facility neared completion. The emergency shelter’s foundation has been poured, the walls and roofs are bolted into place, and electricians have wired the warehouse-style building. Now, only $15,000 stands between the incomplete building and a full build out, with restrooms, family rooms and a driveway, Nava said.
As planned, the private emergency shelter would be able to house between 40 to 50 people during a natural disaster. It would be the next addition to the ministry’s plethora of offerings since it relocated from Bastrop to its site at 987 N. Texas 95, near Camp Swift, over two years ago.
The ministry also operates a small shelter for people experiencing chronic homelessness and several small homes for parents and children during times of personal crisis.
Each of the shelter’s facilities are funded by donations. Anyone interested in donating can do so through the ministry’s website at www.itshuh-ministry.org.

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EXPANSION OF FAMILY safe SHELTERS in 2019

5/27/2019

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Bastrop County ministry expanding its homeless shelter
After purchasing neighboring property.

AUSTIN, Texas — The number of people forced to live on the streets continues to rise in Central Texas. In The Streets-Hands Up High Ministry is trying to fight the problem. Its homeless shelter program is getting a big upgrade.
It recently purchased land right next to its current setup of eight mini-shelters for families who are homeless.

That land is now being cleared out so the ministry can build seven new mini-shelters for families in transition. The ministry hopes to have the units up and running by mid-September of this year.
They say they're still trying to meet some fundraising goals.
The current setup is a neighborhood-like style.
Quaint sidewalks separating each unit, washrooms for separate genders and a laundry machine unit are all on site.
This is in addition to the Open Door Soup Kitchen they have that serves 100 people every day.

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bastrop pastor opens shelter

1/8/2018

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BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — A pastor who runs a soup kitchen in Bastrop is looking for sponsors of several short-term mini-shelters for homeless families he’s putting on his property.
Pastor Roland Nava, of In the Streets-Hands Up High Ministry and the Open Door Soup Kitchen, already has three large sheds that he’s converted into fully-furnished shelters with electricity and space for a family of five or more. Two of them will open to families who need them next week, and he’s aiming to add seven more in the coming weeks.
“They’re going to be their temporary home, and we want them to feel comfortable,” Nava said. He couldn’t find anything quite like these shelters in Bastrop County that lets families stay together when they find themselves homeless.
“I have seen two families that actually split up, that got divorced, that broke up because of their emergency,” he said.
All it takes is one crisis for a family to fall through the cracks — just one emergency to make keeping a roof over your head difficult to maintain. Jeff Randle knows all about that. He and his family were at the soup kitchen last week enjoying a free tamale breakfast.
“Pastor Nava, you know, he’s helped us out tremendously,” Randle said.
His family was preparing to move into a duplex in Houston last year after leaving a bad rental situation in Bastrop. Two days before they were set to move in, Hurricane Harvey hit the city and flooded the home. “So just like that, like boom, we’re like homeless, and I’ve never even thought of nothing like that in my life.”
Since then, the four of them have been staying in a hotel room in Central Texas and eating at the soup kitchen when they can. It’s been hard for them to save the money they’re making to find a permanent place to live.
“As long as we’re paying what we’re paying right now, it’s impossible. And it’s just keeping us stuck,” he said.
Randle and his family will be staying for free in one of Nava’s shelters when they open next week. Just a month or two should be enough, Randle thinks, to save up enough to put down the first and last month’s rent at a new home. While they’re waiting, they’ll be staying in the same place.
“We want them to feel the sense of family, togetherness through their hard time, through their situation,” Nava said. Families will be able to stay for up to three months on the property. “We want them to be encouraged, you know, that things can get better.”