Jess Lucero is in charge of the Point-In-Time Count. “This year we had over a hundred volunteers. It’s just a real record turnout for us, helps us get full geographic coverage of our area and make sure we’re not missing anybody who might otherwise go uncounted and therefore not be outreached to and connected to resources,” said Lucero.
Volunteers range from students to city officials. Some, like Nicole Burnard, have a personal connection to the cause.
“My grandfather on my dad’s side – I was in high school and he came on some hard times. He ended up living out of his car towards the end and he did end up taking his own life. And that’s always stuck with me. I think we need to remember that every human deserves a warm safe place to sleep,” said Burnard.
Lexi Barr and Emerson Sauer are a part of the team that went to Brigham City. After the count, both say that it was an eye-opening experience.
“I remember walking from like, you know car to car, different places and I remember just being so so cold. It made me so sad cause I was like, you know people are actually living like this day to day, ”Barr said.
“I guess for me I was just surprised at, like whether the people wanted to talk to us or not, how many people there were out there. And homelessness just looks a lot different than how I imagined, ”said Sauer.
“So, a hundred volunteers now are much more well-versed on what resources exist, what homelessness looks like here, and we hope that they’ll have conversations with their families and with their friends, right? The more you more you learn and know about something, you know, the less you can look away from it, ”said Lucero.
Official Results of the count will be released by the state later this year.