AUBURN — In the winter of 2022, when a drop-in center for homeless opened in the First Universalist Church on Pleasant Street in Auburn, Kitsie Claxton said she had had limited personal contact with homeless community members, but wanted to change that.

“I would see a person on a street corner or sheltered in a doorway and feel badly and awkward not knowing how to respond, which was a major reason I started volunteering when the Drop-in Center first opened,” she said.

Now, Claxton is part of a core group of volunteers that keeps the center operating for the community’s most vulnerable, and the center is now regarded as a vital resource for Auburn.

Two weeks ago, the Drop-In Center and its volunteers were honored by the City Council with the 2024 “Extra Mile” award.

“Those first few weeks, we could never have imagined how the center would grow, now welcoming as many as 120 people on some Saturdays,” Claxton said.

Claxton said volunteers get to know people as individuals and hear stories about how challenges like health, job loss, trauma or relapse can “so easily lead to loss of housing.”

“Our guests have said that the center is one of the few places in the community where they feel truly welcome, and feel a sense of family. As a volunteer, I’m grateful to be part of that community, and grateful that it’s widened my sense of what true community means,” she said.

The Drop-in Center operates two days per week, providing free meals, clothing, toiletries, and critical survival gear such as sleeping bags and tents. During its two years of operation, it has provided more than 12,500 volunteer hours and served over 8,200 hot meals for the unhoused, according to a news release from Virginia Starbird, volunteer and board secretary.

When honoring the center, Mayor Jeff Harmon said that as they closed out their second year, the center had tallied 10,000 client visits.

He said the Drop-in Center has “made a huge impact” in the community as one of the only organizations in Auburn that serves food for the food insecure along with clothing and other essential items.

In his official proclamation regarding the Extra Mile award, Harmon said the Center is “a place for the unhoused to rest, replenish, and rejuvenate.”

“Our community is made stronger by those devoted to going the extra mile in service,” he said.

On hand to receive the award on Oct. 21 was Claxton and fellow volunteer Martha Broduer, along with board member Angela Essman.

When reached, Essman said she believes it’s important for Auburn to have the center as “a safe space for people to be calmed and comforted by familiar smiling faces and good food” and have a place to renew supplies.

“Our volunteers come in week after week because they want to make some sort of good difference in this harsh world,” she said. “Volunteers are rewarded by the thankfulness and appreciation shown by the people we help.”

She said some weeks the center can get overwhelmed due to the number of people in need in the area.

“I’m glad this organization exists and that community members are generous with their donations, because I see lots of folks in need and I love helping in any way I can,” she said. “Some of us have been volunteering together for a few years now and look forward to our time together with the same goal in mind: helping.”

As the Drop-in Center has become a heavily-utilized resource for homeless, it has also faced uncertainty about its future. However, a plan to turn a city-owned property at 121 Mill St. into a community resource center involves the Drop-in Center, which would move its operation to the renovated building sometime this winter.

During initial council discussions on the proposal, a number of people said the drop-in center’s days are numbered at the church, and the Mill Street proposal would allow the operation to continue.

“We’re heading into the cold winter months, and I think every day about its impact on our Drop-in Center guests and others in our community who live without shelter and warmth and predictable meals: the survival skills required, the obstacles they face,” Claxton said. “Anything we can do to lean in with support and kindness and respect can only make a difference.”

The center provides meals for the unhoused from 9 a.m. to noon every Wednesday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at 169 Pleasant St.

Claxton said the Drop-in Center is always in need of more volunteers, and community donations. If interested, or would like more information, contact Claxton at [email protected].

Know someone with a deep well of unlimited public spirit? Someone who gives of their time to make their community a better place? Then nominate them for Kudos. Send their name and the place where they do their good deeds to reporter Andrew Rice at [email protected] and we’ll do the rest.