Non-profits in Muncie who help homeless Hoosiers are both celebrating new community donations and asking for continued help.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, that’s as the state awaits this year’s count of how many individuals lack a permanent home.

In defiance of the more mild winter we’ve had this year, it’s about 30 degrees, snowing, and windy while Muncie Mission shows off its new box truck, donated by the American Electric Power Foundation.  Still, Indiana Michigan Power president Toby Thomas is ready to celebrate … and joke.

“We’re here, we’re part of the community, right?  I mean, obviously, we provide an electric service, but we also live here, we work here.  And so, we don’t succeed unless our communities succeed.  This box van – the next one will be electric, by the way!  We couldn’t make that happen this time.”

Muncie Mission president Frank Baldwin says the new box truck will be the largest in a fleet of five, where most have seen better days.

“The other four are aging, and really are being held together just kind of with duct tape.”

The trucks both pick up donations and take them to families served by Muncie Mission, which also operates residential facilities and owns homes where some clients can be housed long-term.

Indiana participates in a “point in time” count of homeless individuals.  This year’s count was in late January and new figures haven’t been released yet.  In 2019’s count, there were more than 3,900 homeless Hoosiers.  That number rose from 2018, after steadily dropping for a few years.

Baldwin says community donations go to individuals and families in all sorts of situations.

“Just had a family yesterday that lost everything in a house fire, and so we were able to provide – through the donation of our community – we were able to pass on a couch, and some dining room table and some chairs, and mattresses.”

Read More: Muncie Vending Machines Helping Homeless

Other services in the area who help homeless Hoosiers are also fundraising.  Bridges Community Services in Muncie hosts a tiny home village and vending machines with items like blankets, socks, and hygiene supplies for those who are, as they call it, “living rough.”  The organization, which has been around since 1994, is planning its first fundraising dinner for later this month.