SAYRE - As in the past, participants in the Seventh Annual Sleepout Fundraiser for The Bridge, which was held in Sayre this weekend, raised awareness about the plight of people who cannot afford heating oil or are homeless.

But one of the participants in the event, Marilyn Jeffrey, and her husband, the Rev. Dewey Jeffrey, who is the vice-president of The Bridge, said there is also a new problem in the area: a lack of emergency housing locally, as workers in the natural gas industry have rented motel rooms that had been used as emergency housing in the past.

During the event, senior citizen Arlene Lamie, who was bundled up in a winter coat and hat, sat Saturday afternoon on a couch that had been place outdoors, underneath the awning in front of the Sayre Theatre in Sayre.

"When the sun's out, it's pretty warm," she said. "But when the sun's gone, it gets chilly."

Lamie was one of a three-member team of volunteers from the First Church of God in Sayre who sat on a couch and bed for two hours Saturday afternoon in front of the theater as part of Seventh Annual Sleep-Out Fundraiser for The Bridge. During the 24 hour-event, which began at 6 p.m. Friday, teams of volunteers from local churches and businesses each spent an hour or two on the coach and bed in front of the theater to raise awareness about area homelessness and other emergency problems, and to raise money for The Bridge, said Lamie, who helped organize the sleep-out.

The Bridge is a non-profit organization of 36 churches in the Valley area that provides emergency assistance to local residents, including food, clothes, help paying rent, and help purchasing heating oil, said Marilyn Jeffrey, a volunteer with The Bridge.

"We're raising awareness about people who don't have heating oil or are out on the street," said Lamie.

Spending time on the couch and bed "sort of depicts what it is like to be homeless and out in the cold," said Marilyn Jeffrey, a volunteer with The Bridge.

Friday night, participants in the sleep-out faced temperatures in the 30s and a lot of wind, according to participants in the event.

"I imagine it was in the 20s with the wind chill," Jeffrey said.

During the event, a barrel was set up in front of the theater to accept donations to The Bridge. In addition, the teams of volunteers who participated in the sleep-out had secured pledges for a donation to The Bridge from individuals and businesses, and some businesses had donated directly to The Bridge after receiving a letter about the event, Lamie said.

"We've had a significant increase" in the demand for services from The Bridge, due to the weak economy and the need for heating oil this winter, Jeffrey said.

In October, The Bridge distributed approximately $11,000 in emergency assistance to area residents, said Jeffrey and Lamie.

The sleep-out is The Bridge's biggest fund-raiser of the year, typically raising $10,000 or more, said Don Jayne, a former president of The Bridge.

Gas drilling

Marilyn Jeffrey said there needs to be an emergency housing facility created in the Valley area for people who are evicted from their homes, have been victims of a house fire, or have other emergency housing needs.

No such facility in the Valley exists, and it is particularly needed now because two relatively inexpensive motels on Route 17 in Valley area - where The Bridge had in the past placed clients in need of short-term emergency housing - were condemned and closed due the creation of Interstate 86, Jeffrey said.

And, due to the influx of workers in the gas drilling industry, it is difficult to find a room for a client of The Bridge in a bed-and-breakfast, she said.

"Rarely is there a room in a bed-and-breakfast" that is available, Jeffrey said.

The only motels left in the Valley area charge over $100 per night, which makes them too expensive for The Bridge to use as emergency housing for its clients, she said.

Due to the lack of local emergency housing, at the end of last summer The Bridge had to send a homeless couple in their 30s to a motel in Williamsport, Jeffrey said. At the time, the wife had just been discharged from Robert Packer Hospital, where she had been treated for pneumonia, and she was still recovering from the illness, Jeffrey said.

The Bridge paid for one night for the couple in the motel in Williamsport, and the motel owner, miraculously, paid for several additional nights for them at the motel, Jeffrey said.

"Somehow, someone paid their taxi fare to Williamsport," she said.

The Bridge also assisted the homeless couple with finding emergency services in the Williamsport area, and the couple planned to try to find work in the Williamsport area, she said.

Jeffrey said she likes The Bridge because it is an all-volunteer organization, and all the money it raises is used to help out needy people.

The Rev. Dewey Jeffrey, who is the pastor of the First Church of God in Sayre, said: "All the motels in the area are taken up with people in natural gas drilling, so there is really is nothing left" for emergency housing, he said.

"It's a real problem for us," he said.

A number of social service agencies in the Towanda area are also having problems finding emergency housing for their clients, due to motels rooms being rented by workers in the gas drilling industry, he said.

The Bridge is a 501(C)3 organization, Jayne said.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com

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