By: Cogan Davis
Fayetteville, AR – As a housing crisis continues to sweep the Northwest Arkansas Area, the question of how to serve the homeless population continues to bother city officials.
7 Hills Homeless Shelter has been serving the homeless since being founded in 2001 and recently received a grant to further be of use to the community.
7 Hills currently operates as a day shelter providing services to their guests such as food, shelter, showers, laundry, and telephone services
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Recently the Fayetteville City Council chose to use the rest of its federal pandemic relief money to help turn 7 Hills into an overnight shelter. The proposal was passed in a 7-0 vote, awarding $1.6 million to address homelessness.
Becci Sisson, CEO of 7 Hills, said that the combined parties took two to three months to come together and figure out what their plan should be. “What we were trying to accomplish was a very simplistic, easy to use A-Z process for someone who is in crisis,” said Sisson.
The main piece of the proposal included converting the Walker Family Residential Community into an overnight shelter. The overnight shelter would contain 64 beds for individuals in need of shelter. This supports the Salvation Army’s “Pathway of Hope” program, an outreach initiative in Fayetteville to prevent homelessness.
7 Hills already has success stories of their own from individuals who have been helped in the past. Kristina Andazola, the 7 Hills Development associate, said her journey with 7 Hills has been a little crazy.
In fear that she would lose her house, she went out searching for a job but came back with something else. After coming to 7 Hills in 2010 and applying for a job, she was unfortunately told that they had filled the position.
However, they had a housing program that fit her needs. Kristina graduated from the housing program still without a job but was offered a job at 7 Hills soon after.
“I am very honored to be a part of this company because I know it works,” said Andazola, “I know that support is very important for people, and when you have a little bit of support it goes a long way.”
Kristina has now been with 7 Hills for 13 years and recently got a promotion to her current position. She says that she is still taking it day by day and is very excited to step into her new role.
7 Hills is always looking for volunteers to come and support their guests and the community. To sign up to volunteer, you can visit the 7 Hills Give Pulse page.