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WAPAKONETA - A local organization made up of dedicated volunteers and funded solely by donations is tackling one of the country's least understood, yet most prevalent issues.
Auglaize County's homeless coalition, Candle of Hope, was created in 2019 as a part of the county's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). The coalition works to end, and prevent, area homelessness through its various community partnerships.
CERT, made up of a team of 25 volunteers, assists first responders, communities, private, state and federal agencies during times of disaster, large-scale emergency or as needed and provides temporary housing and resources for homeless people. It was formed in 2018 and is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based out of the County EMA offices in Wapakoneta and St. Marys.
CERT volunteers are dispatched by county law enforcement out to emergency scenes to help during times of need, Auglaize County Emergency Management Agency Director Troy Anderson said. For example, the group will help to source clothing and furniture donations for house fire victims and even put them up in an area hotel for a period of time.
Auglaize County Emergency Management Agency Director Troy Anderson.
Candle of Hope was created after CERT volunteers and law enforcement personnel began running into an increased number of homeless individuals throughout the community.
Troy Anderson estimated there are 15 to 20 known homeless people on any given night in Auglaize County - with the caveat that there are definitely many more than that because "homelessness" is such a hidden and complex issue.
CERT's Candle of Hope program handles situations involving all of the four types of homelessness: transitional, episodic, hidden and chronic.
Hidden homelessness refers to people who have lost their permanent residence but have support from family or friends to sleep on couches or in a temporary room. Transitional homeless people have lost their housing due to a major life change or event. Episodic homelessness refers to those who have cycles of instability, often caused by substance abuse or mental health issues. Chronically homeless people have been without a permanent residence for over a year or have had frequent instances of homelessness within the last couple of years.
Since its creation, Candle of Hope has established a lengthy list of community partners including West Ohio Community Action Partnership, numerous area churches, the county veterans services commission, county job and family services, area hotels and more.
With those partners, the coalition created an intake form asking for information such as the person's last known address, phone number, email address, point of contact, Social Security number, driver's license and more. Clients names and basic information are then shared with all of the coalition's partnering agencies to mitigate potential abuse of their services.
"What they do is they would go to a church and say, 'I didn't get help. I didn't get help,'" Troy Anderson said. "Well, now, since we're all in a coalition, we meet every month. When we get a client in, I do a simple referral. The referring agency doesn't get all the information. They get the name, address, phone number, point of contact, (which lets them know) we helped this client. What that does, if you show up there and say, 'I haven't got help,' they've already got their name and that way it cuts back on churches getting hammered for unnecessary expenses."
Being a coalition of local partners also helps CERT share the costs of running the Candle of Hope program.
"We partner as well with the churches so we can divide up the cost. That way everybody (contributes) the same amount of money and it helps the budgets," he said.
CERT's budget is funded entirely by donations and fundraising. They previously held fundraisers just once a year, but due to an increase in client intake, they've started holding them once a month.
"Like everything else, the costs continue to go up. So we're doing the chicken dinners. We did Crumbl cookies. We've got another event (coming up) at La Carreta in St. Marys (and) we've got a Texas Roadhouse (fundraiser) coming up," Anderson said. "We try to stagger them out through the year to help offset the cost of running the program."
Clients are sometimes referred through law enforcement, but a majority of the coalition's referrals come in from its partnering agencies.
As well, Candle of Hope established a completely anonymous online tip line in which people can report any instance of homelessness - whether the person affected is themselves or someone else.
"So when I pull it up it comes up and it just shows the text that was shared on the tip line. It collects no data. I have no clue (who) sent it. I get no email addresses from (the sender). I get nothing. All I get is that text blurb," Troy Anderson said.
The tips go straight to his and on-call volunteers' phones, and within minutes he is able to dispatch a volunteer using Active911 software much like a law enforcement dispatcher.
"She or he would type in that message right here (saying) 'Hey, we've got a report of a homeless person at this location,' then hit enter. And that information just went out to the on-call volunteers," he said. "The two members closest to that area will go there, meet up and do that intake form and start getting assistance to them."
Candle of Hope provides its clients with a myriad of services and resources to end or prevent homelessness. The group will fund a couple of nights in an area hotel; purchase bus tickets or pay for taxis; help with utility, mortgage or rent payments; provide up-to-date lists of local jobs; supply lists of area apartment vacancies; provide lessons in financial literacy; and more.
Last year, the group served 265 clients in and around the Auglaize County area, and as of July 9, they've served 150 people in 2025.
"We're getting more successes than we are failures," Troy Anderson said.
A recent success involved an area woman who was given a choice last year of either rehab or jail, Candle of Hope case manager Angelita Anderson said.
"She picked rehab over being arrested," Angelita Anderson said. "She went to a house for rehabilitation. They reached out to us and said she needed a toothbrush and toothpaste. So we put together a really nice kit and we sent it to her (in another town). She was going to be there for a while to go through detox and the whole program."
Later on, CERT volunteers learned the woman was pregnant.
"So we've kind of stayed with her. She's one of our Hope cases," Angelita Anderson said. "We've reached out continuously, asking, 'How are you doing? How are things going?' She celebrated a year of sobriety in either March or April. She has her baby, she's working a full-time job and she has her own place."
CERT volunteers also serve as invaluable advocates for their clients.
"If they're going to go to court and they're going to be given a choice, we will say our program works, they can try our program. If they're willing to take that chance, we will stand by them. In my mind, that's us advocating for them," Angelita Anderson said.
That includes making themselves available to their clients at nearly all hours via phone.
"It's been midnight (or) it's been one o'clock in the morning (when) we're on the phone. The phone rings and if it comes up and it's one of our clients, we're going to talk to them," Troy Anderson said. "I don't care if it's an hour, two hours on the phone. I'd rather lose two hours of sleep knowing that I kept somebody from either overdosing or suicide."
Local, grassroots initiatives aimed at eradicating homelessness like Candle of Hope are able to provide those in need with a more personable and familiar helping hand, Angelita Anderson added.
"I've even heard, 'Hey, you're the fourth person that I called and nobody else answered," she said. "It might take a little bit to get awake, but we're there."
Candle of Hope volunteers do make it clear to clients that they are not licensed mental health specialists, Angelita Anderson emphasized.
"We're not licensed social workers, clinicians, or anything like that, we're just treating somebody with respect."
Interested parties can learn more about CERT on the Auglaize County CERT Facebook page or donate to the program at auglaizeema.org/cert.
Online tips can be submitted at auglaizeema.org/coh/homeless-tip-line.
