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Homeless woman reacts to Birmingham shelter being broken into; how you can help


Serenity Peterson (WBMA){p}{/p}
Serenity Peterson (WBMA)

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Serenity Peterson likes to read when she is at Birmingham's Urban Purpose Compound Day Shelter located on Second Avenue North.

The 21 year old homeless woman said one of her favorite materials to read is "the Marked Series. It's about vampire night school. It's really cool."

She feels violated after the shelter was broken into.

Shelter leaders said the building, a day shelter for the homeless, was broken into sometime over last weekend, and was missing donated new and used clothing and shoes, canned and other nonperishable foods, a case of aerosol air freshener, a 65-inch flat screen, a sound bar, an industrial fan, a microwave, and more.

The value was around $5,000.

Peterson said this home hasn't felt the same since.

She said "really down because all the guys are upset about the football. Football is down because there's no TV. They stole the TV."

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"Football is a huge deal here. Our clients are very divided between Alabama and Auburn" said Morgan Pitman.

Pitman is Program Director with the non profit organization Urban Purpose.

She said dozens of homeless like Peterson see the shelter, as a home, a place of relaxation, a place to wash off the outside world that's full of art, reading and good eats.

In a statement released Saturday, she said "the ministry provides coffee, snacks and meals, free laundry services, showers, clean clothing, and case management for homeless adults who don’t seek help at local homeless shelters due to mental health issues or are barred from shelter due to problematic behaviors."

The statement continued and said "some have mental issues such as PTSD or paranoia that make them fearful to be in close quarters with other people" and "others simply don’t want to follow the rules, or they aren’t ready to stop using their drug of choice.”

The Compound allows the homeless to rest, grab a shower, do laundry, or replace clothing with fresh clothes.

Pitman said “for some, our services provide the means to clean up before a job interview or doctor’s appointment or before they see family.”

She said the shelter has been running for seven years and it's like a family.

She's built a connection with a regular client, a University of Alabama graduate, who majored in music.

Pitman said "but it's just crazy how relatable we are with so many of our clients about many different things but he and I relate on music. We talk about college classes that we've both taken."

The day shelter continues to operate but just not exactly the same until everything is replaced.

In a statement released Saturday she said “It’s not going to be easy to replace these items right away, and it’s the homeless who suffer."

She said they have made a report with police.

Pitman said Urban Purpose welcomes donations from the community to replace the items that were taken. To donate or learn more, contact Morgan Pitman at morgan@urbanpurpose.org or 256-227-1864.



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