My Letter To The National Office of Volunteers Of America

I write to inform you, as a matter of conscience, that you have a blot on your record out here in Wyoming.

The VOA Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter is treating the poor and the vulnerable who seek services there with a brusque, dismissive and depersonalizing air. I estimate that about one-third of the people who enter the shelter are either kicked out or leave on their own because they can no longer tolerate the intrusion and bullying that goes on toward them by the director and staff.

I took it upon myself to advise the local board about this. The vice-president, in the local newspaper, said there was “nothing to” my concerns. The CEO of the Wyoming-Montana VOA disagreed with my statistic, and said it was more like 10 percent. He said this was “a pretty good success rate.” I fail to see how a dismissive and over-lording attitude toward 10 percent of your clientele is “pretty good” in anyone’s world.

I was fired from my job at the shelter just a few days before Christmas because I passionately objected to the treatment of others at the shelter. I am a former minister, and I can tell you that I have never seen a human service program that rides so thoroughly roughshod over its homeless residents. I was extremely bothered by this, and ended up speaking quite boldly and firmly to the director about her unseemly ways. She didn’t take it well. My concerns have been dismissed by VOA board and administration because I am now perceived as merely a disgruntled former employee.

Details about this misshapen program are available at my blog at http://www.helter-shelter.blogspot.com/ This includes the letter I wrote to the board, and many examples of poor treatment. I am not guilty of exaggeration, but even if one were to believe only half of what I wrote, it is clear you have a problem that no one in the local VOA will face.

Your own website on “Working to End Homelessness” says, “We stay with (the homeless) for as long as it takes to return them to self-sufficiency.” In Sheridan, this statement is not truthful.
Sincerely, Tim Cummings