Staff, volunteer shortages hurting homeless shelters in Las Vegas

For about 12 hours each day, Timothy Bartley sits in his worn-down electric wheelchair, trying to find ample shade from a nearby palm tree on Owens Avenue. He tries not to move around much. The wheelchair’s battery won’t last long if he does.

Bartley, a 57-year-old with shaggy blond hair and a weathered face, recalled when that same wheelchair would zoom over sidewalks and carry him across the city. Back then, the chair’s battery would last days. Now, Bartley must save the battery for a short afternoon ride up the concrete ramp to enter the Salvation Army’s overnight shelter.

“It won’t get me up the ramp if I use it up,” Bartley said Thursday. “It goes dead pretty quick.”

The nonprofit, no more than 50 feet away from where Bartley spends about half his day, offers its overnight shelter from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily. Most summers, a day shelter would also be provided as an escape from the heat for people like Bartley.

Read more: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/staff-volunteer-shortages-hurting-homeless-shelters-in-las-vegas-2414948/