Shawano To Open Its First Homeless Shelter

A small northern Wisconsin city that abuts Menominee County, the poorest county in the state, is opening its first homeless shelter.

The nonprofit group Shawano Area Matthew 25 is opening the downtown emergency shelter, which will provide up to 15 people with a hot meal and a place to sleep. The shelter will be open until April.

Muffy Culhane, SAM 25’s board president, said that even a small city with less than 10,000 residents like Shawano has a homeless population.

“There are several struggling and living in cars as we speak,” she said. “We hear stories of farmers who’ve lost their farms living in barns, living in their ice shack.”

SAM 25 needs to raise $25,000 to pay for the shelter. If it meets the goal, the Shawano Area Community Foundation will match those donations dollar for dollar, which would result in a total of $50,000 for the shelter.