Features Overview

SCCAP Shelters

Little can be worse than having no safe place to call your own, no place to sleep at night, no place for your children to do their homework. SCCAP has been operating shelters for families experiencing homelessness for more than 30 years. We have a shelter in Gettysburg, PA and one in Chambersburg, Pa.

Trudy and Sharon have each been coordinating our shelters for more than 15 years. They understand that families frequently come to the shelter feeling hopeless and as if nothing will ever get better. They and their staff, work to instill home, foster respectful and supportive relationships and then work hard to help folks find safe, affordable, permanent housing so they will never experience homelessness again.

Combined, our shelters serve between 150 and 200 individuals per year. The average length of stay during the COVID Pandemic is 79 days (up from 41 during non-Covid times) and 90% of the families assist in finding safe affordable housing are still stably housed two years later.

More than half of those experiencing homelessness are children

We tend to think of folks who are experiencing homelessness as people struggling with substance use disorder or significant mental health issues, we forget that many nights across the country their are families with children sleeping in their cars or in tents.

SCCAP’s Adams County Homeless Shelter is a family shelter serving more than 50 children and their families each year. when we designed our shelter in Gettysburg, we made sure to add a children’s room where kids can spend time - just being kids. Both SCCAP shelters partner with all surrounding school districts to help children continue their education at their past school where ever possible and we partner with Head Start and the Early Learning Resource Center to help children with quality early learning experiences. And most importantly, SCCAP works with the family, local landlords and our partners to find safe affordable housing so that children never have to experience homelessness again.

From Homeless to Home Owners

The Bakers ended up in the shelter years ago when their landlord sold their home and they had to leave. With three children, two with special needs, money had been tight and they had no savings and no where to go. They came to the Franklin County Homeless Shelter, received appropriate support, joined SCCAP’s Support Circles program and created and then met some very future oriented goals for their family. They have both always been hardworking - they just needed a little help through a very difficult time in their life.

Today, Mike and Virginia, and their children (including Chris, who just graduated from college) are doing great. They kept working their goals, which included saving and working on their credit and four years ago purchased their own home. A situation which could have sent this family spiraling downward, became a stepping stone to a bright new future. Here at SCCAP we work to turn hopelessness into past experience, allowing someone to see their amazing capabilities and perseverance. Mike and Virginia support the Race Against Poverty and Virginia helps other families with canning produce from the Gleaning project and offering support and guidance to families with special needs. They are both amazing!