The first of a small village of tiny homes is ready to welcome a local family in need of emergency shelter on Community Shelter Services property. Thanks to a generous donation from the Kiwanis Club of Erie, the project was started in late 2022 and with the hard work of the CSS Maintenance team, Wm. T. Spaeder Company, the City of Erie and other volunteers it is now ready to welcome its first family of four. Additional units will be on-site in the coming months thanks to a grant from Erie Insurance and proceeds of the CSS 50th Anniversary Celebration at the end of April.
The goal of the Columbus Family Village is to provide family style emergency housing units where nuclear families can remain together while utilizing the services provided by CSS in the Emergency Shelter. These families will have access to facilities for meals as well as caseworker services and all normal programming at the shelter. Units contain a small bathroom as well as room for two bunk beds and a desk or table. The family inhabiting the first of these homes had previously been separated into two local agencies to provide shelter, the father at one shelter and the mother and children taken in at another.
A ribbon cutting for this home is scheduled for Tuesday, April 18th at 11:00 am. The event will take place at the CSS Columbus Building grounds, 655 W. 16th Street Erie, PA 16502, and local agencies and representatives will be in attendance to celebrate this milestone along with CSS leadership and Mayor Joe Schember.
