Charlottesville Tomorrow, 4/24/24: Robert already had a plan for what he’d do when the shelter closed.
On Saturday, April 13, he’d wake up on a sleeping pad on the Trinity Presbyterian rec room floor. He’d pack his bag, head out the door and into a van that brought him from the church on Fontaine Avenue to the Downtown Charlottesville area.
Between working shifts at a local diner and welding classes at Piedmont Virginia Community College, he’d need to find a place to hang up his rope hammock and get some shuteye.
“Gotta find somewhere safe to set it up,” he said. When it rains, he’ll pop a tarp over the hammock to stay dry.
Robert, who did not want his last name published because he doesn’t want his homelessness to interfere with possible job or housing prospects, is one of dozens of people who is without a place to sleep now that the People And Congregations Engaged in Ministry (PACEM) roaming overnight congregate shelter is closed until the fall.