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MATS is in need of volunteers for its annual Point in Time (PIT) count later this month.

The count will be held on January 25 and 26 and will give the shelter an accurate count of the unhoused population in the area.

“When we do this pit count we see how many homeless we have in our area and that determines how much federal dollars that Hamblen County will get,” said Aletha Purkey, assistant director.

“When you think of places like New York City it motivates us to count as many individuals as we can,” Purkey said. “When we don’t get a true count the funds don’t come into Hamblen County and that’s not just for homelessness it’s for other funding as well.”

Crews will be deployed throughout the night of Jan. 25 to execute the count.

“About midnight we have a crew that goes out until around 4:30 a.m. and then we have a second team that goes out around 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.”

Crews will speak with individuals, fill out a survey and give blessing bags to individuals.

“Volunteers will go out in crews and each group will be assigned an area in the county and will talk to the homeless,” Purkey said. “We will also have blessing bags with toothpaste and toothbrushes and other basic necessities.

“As we talk to them we will fill out a survey that has basic information on it like there age, race and gender.”

Another set of volunteer will input the surveys online and call around to get a more precise head count.

“We don’t need volunteers to just be in the field we need some who will input all of the surveys into our Counting Us database and some who will call different agencies in the area to get a count from them.”

A training will be held for before the count to educate volunteers and officers will be present with groups for safety measures.

“Everyone will be trained, safe and secured so there is no need for anyone to be intimated about the count.”

In the past MATS would have more than 20 volunteers for the count, but with the pandemic numbers have dropped.

“We used to have more than 20 volunteers each year but over the years with COVID our volunteers have dropped,” Purkey said. “So this year we are drastically in need of volunteers to make sure we get an accurate count.”

MATS goal is receive at least 20 volunteers for the PIT Count and the deadline to sign up is January 18.

“20 volunteers would be great, but we will never turn anyone away if we get more than that,” Purkey said. “It’s just very important that we get an accurate so we can best help the people in our community.

If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, call 423-587-9215 or visit the shelter at 733 W Main St.

MATS is an agency of the Hamblen County United Way.