By Cindy Hoffman, Staff Writer

(June 1, 2023) Sometimes kindness can be its own reward, and other times kindness is rewarded. In the latter case, the Ocean Pines foundation Matt’s Kindness Ripples On takes care of that.

And on June 1, the Kindness Award will go to Trisha and Jason Long, of West Ocean City who manage the OC Cold Weather Shelter at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on 103 Street from November through March each year.

Matt’s Kindness Ripples On is run by the Kurtz family of Ocean City. They started the foundation as a way to honor their late son, Matt, who suffered from mental health issues. He lost his battle in 2017.

People send the foundation nominations, and the family goes through them.

“It’s an honor for us to read these [nominations]. It makes us feel so good. It constantly reminds us how many wonderful, amazing people there are out there,” Matt’s mother, Jackie Kurtz said.

The award consists of a certificate of kindness and $250 for both Trisha and Jason.

“We tell everyone to take this money and spend it on themselves. I want them to do some self-care.

One award winner struggled with using the money on herself.

“Just remember, it is the oxygen mask, take care of yourself first,” Kurtz said.

The Longs took over the Cold Weather Shelter in 2020. The shelter was founded by a church coalition and run by Robin Derrickson, who attended the Ocean City Baptist Church, where the Longs worship. Before she passed in 2020, she asked Jason to take over leadership of the shelter. He and his wife are two of five board members that run the shelter.

“It’s more of a community effort today,” said Jason, who handles all the volunteer recruitment and scheduling.

The shelter can handle up to 30 people a night, and this past season the facility averaged 12 people a night, Trisha said.

“Guests check in at 5 p.m.  They go to their room; they can shower and eat. There is a TV with a couch, where we can socialize. The next morning, they eat and are out by 7 a.m.”

“It’s hard to send them out at 7 a.m. when it is so cold. You get in your car. They are standing at the bus stop. You are going to take a shower or lay in bed, and they are going to the Boardwalk,” said Trish.

“They are so very thankful to the volunteers.”

Ocean City provides the shelter with bus passes for their guests. Without this support, their guests would not be able to get to the shelter.

“They literally have no other place to go,” Jason said.

“One of our guests comes from Salisbury because the shelters there are full. There is a high need for more shelter space,” said Trisha.

The most recent “Point in Time Count” in late January found 20 homeless families in Worcester County, three of which were unsheltered at the time. This included 35 children under 18 living with 22 adults, according to Ken Argot, executive director of Diakonia.

In addition, another 180 persons were identified as homeless, of which 58 were unsheltered at the time. Males made up 70 percent of the homeless population Over 50% of homeless individuals identified as Black or African American, compared to 46% White/Caucasian, 3% Latinx/Hispanic, and 1% Other.

The shelter is run solely by volunteers. Jason recruits five volunteers for each night.  The volunteers register the guests, cook, do laundry, and two sleep at the shelter. One woman is needed each night in case they get a female guest.

“The most humbling thing is to wash their clothes. To put their needs ahead of yours,” Trisha said.

Most of the guests in the shelter are regulars. The majority live within the Ocean City limits.

“We had a lot of new people this season. Several had passed away and new people had come to town,” Trisha said.

“There are very few who only come once or twice,” Jason added.

Trisha, who is part of the Homeless Outreach Team or HOT, said affordable housing is a significant problem in the area.

“It causes so many people to get into awful positions. If only the businesses in the area would come together on some sort of low-income housing for the homeless and the J1s,” Trisha said.

“A homeless person isn’t easily definable. Sometimes you wouldn’t even be able to tell that someone is homeless. In fact, it’s my experience that about 50% have employment, but those wages aren’t sufficient for housing,” said Argot.

The current housing shortage has led to the housing rental rates here being near double what a mortgage payment might look like for a similar dwelling, Argot said. But down payments and mortgage insurance rates can make purchasing impossible.

And many rentals require a salary to be three times the monthly rent, which makes lower wage workers ineligible for housing, according to Argot’s experience.

For guests at the cold weather shelter, Trisha said maybe three out of 12 have jobs. And many have mental health issues.

Some could get support through the county health department, but that means they have to be willing to be diagnosed with mental health issues. Many are not comfortable with that.

Trisha recalled one guest who was a regular. He was an alcoholic. Two summers ago, he developed liver failure and was in the hospital.

“He was unresponsive, not eating. I visited him several times.

“I was waiting for him to take his last breath while I was sitting with him.”

Instead, he became lucid and began to eat again.

“He started healing and went back out on the streets again because he had nowhere else to go.

“He turned his life around and stopped drinking.  He is doing so well.”

“He is still a guest at our shelter,” said Jason.

“So many people have preconceived notions of who they are. You sit down with some of them, and you would be shocked at the stories they have, Trisha said.

Trisha said it’s important to remember that they are still people.

“People walk past them on the Boardwalk like they are aliens.”

Instead, she suggests asking them if they would like something to eat. Or offer them water or sunscreen.

The shelter always needs volunteers. Email Jason Long at OCMDColdWeatherShelter@gmail.com to get on his list for volunteers starting November.

To nominate someone to receive an award from Matt’s Kindness Ripples On, visit their website at mattskindnessrippleson.com/get-involved/nominate-someone/