Community CARES - Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Jessica Hopwood

This place is a joke. It is not geared towards homeless people. They have favorite select few patients that stay at the facility. Not everyone gets a voucher for laundry facilities. They have bugs and don't supply food for patients. You do not sleep on the property. You go to a nearby church that has bed bugs and roaches and you sleep on a cot. I am pregnant and refuse to stay here as I have health issues as well. They do not help. All the local homeless facilities are tied together with the cares program. If you don't do what they say and you go against them they can make it to where you don't get a referral to any local facility or help. Not to mention the mass amount of drug activity. I got offered drugs from someone who stays there. when I brought this to Simones attention she brushed the drugs off and was more focused on the drugs. They do not help you.

Renee Reid

Yes the place helped with a referral but Ms beth was totally rude to my fiancé before agreeing to help she talked down to him and then called my phone being rude because she seen my one star review that i left because i was called one time after we had already got a place to stay because we didnt have transportation to go from Carlisle to shippingsburg with all our stuff and it was far from my job she think because people are in a situation where we needed to ask for help she can talk to anyone crazy and treat people rude and thats not ok…and to you ms beth when someone comes to you in a situation your job is to uplift them and help not break them down if thats the type of thing you do then you need a new career

Justin Snyder

I'll be honest here... If you have the audacity to arrive at their facility 1.5 minutes after they close at 12:00, god forbid you can do a single, self-serve task of grabbing a snack from the outreach pantry that is within 5 to 8 feet from the door. Outreach services are closed from 12:00 to 3:00 and they have to clean during that time. But wait, they can accept walk-in deliveries of applications during that time. Whuuuuut?! I can walk in, deliver an application, walk out and grab a snack on my way out, track 15 feet of whatever may be on my shoes like the one rock of asphalt, receive assistance from the staff that is on site, and not break the rules? Oh but wait... walk three feet in the door and just grab a snack is against the rules... What's next? I need to grab an application to fill out and give to them and they say 'no, you need to fill that out outside'... Why are your doors open during a 'closed' period for applicants if you're not going to let your applicants be applicants?! If I don't actually need you to help me with a self-serve task, why are you worried about me being inside a space, minding my own business and letting you do yours, being an actual human being. If the resource center is closed, make it closed. If certain services are not available to be handled, SAY THAT!

On a different rant. If you have a case worker that is busy, your responsibility to get a hold of them is harassment. Yes, you must call them basically every day, and if you don't get a pick up or a call back, you need to go inside the resource center, fill out a complaint form and have them call you back... I'm sorry, I have to blow up my case workers phone, fill up their (likely already full) voicemail box, and fill out complaint forms as 'standard procedure' for case workers to get a hold of clients that aren't getting a response... you need more staff and more case workers... I get it, one of your case workers (maybe both) work in the Shippensburg establishment, but if clients have to spend two months of waiting after filling out complaint forms to still get no response... there's a problem. Get more staff please, realign your priorities with the services, and actually work together. If your receptionist staff know that clients have to borderline harass the case workers, you need help!

On a different issue: I've been kicked out because my shower schedule and logs were not seen (and they were written down, because I saw the staff write it) and I've been locked out of getting my bed back because my case worker filled the spot despite knowing I was scheduled for a meeting to get this clarified, which she scheduled.

One last note: I've heard some clients are needed to obtain income within a few weeks (as little as 2, but don't quote me on that.) or else they're given the boot. Umm, I cannot work anymore, but what about those who are in wheelchairs. I may be standing but that doesn't automatically mean I am fit to work anymore. If you are like me and can stand freely on two legs but can't work a full time, 40 hr/wk job to sustain a livable income without tearing your organs apart, you're going to have a pretty rough time, I'm afraid. I get the lack of sustainable income is not their fault, but there are other people who are not in wheelchairs or using crutches that cannot work anymore. (I get maybe one hour of standing before I feel my stomach and intestines trying to implode, so labor for 4, 6, 8+ hours is impossible, thank you. I'm not going to shred my organs, throw up every three hours, risk losing the job after a week and destroy my employment record, risk my own long-term health, just to not sustain a living.)

T. McCloskey

My disabled adult son stayed here for a while, and he had his stuff stolen by another resident on the first night. Staff tried to dissuade my son from reporting it to the police, but he did so anyway, and his bag, along with 3 others, was recovered.
At one point, staff imposed a previously unknown or forgotten rule on my son, and when he verbally lashed out, they kicked him out and wouldn't let him have his clothing. Part of his disability is an inability to regulate his emotions, and his memory is incredibly awful, so even if they'd told him the rule, it's entirely believable he'd forgotten. While it's ok to expect respectful treatment, I just don't understand how a person with a serious brain injury can be held to the standard when it's directly related to the disability. That'd be like punishing someone with Tourette's for swearing or having tics.
Their social worker seemed to be very good and was genuinely helpful in trying to get housing for my son, so it's not all bad.

E Quinn (Quinnee)

I think this is a great organization. They save lives with what they do. The outreach program is caring, compassionate, and is there when you need them. I have seen then bombarded many times with needs and they stop what they're doing to meet every one of them. Beth makes it a priority that Cares shows compassion and Simone is amazing. I have witnessed so many times when she is already doing 10 things at once, another 10 people coming in with urgent issues. She stops what she is doing to help every single one of them. I don't know how she does it. One morning I sat in amazement watching her in action. It is an organization that truly cares. I feel privileged to have been able to personally experience what they do and get to know them and become friends with such outstanding people.

Matthew Duckworth

I was there for just over 90 days. They have staff that don't really don't care after about 2 weeks. They don't care if stuff gets stolen that you bought. They won't even look at the cameras. They expect you to save 500 a month when you're on a monthly income. They barely help you with looking for a place to live. They need better staff to run that place.

There was some good too. They gave me a place to stay, they had meals that were donated. There were some staff that were really nice. I made a few friends while I was there too.

Beth Kempf I'm going to let every board member know how you really are. You don't do anything for the clients. You're not even in most of the time. You don't look at the cameras, you don't take complaints seriously and found find fault in the clients all the time. You would rather defend the bad behavior of your staff than listen to the whole story. I hope you lose your job once I'm done going to the board of trustees

Dan Alex

Helps shelter people who have nowhere else to go.

Carol flinn

It was a privilege to be able to serve a meal to the residents here in memory of Tim Settlemyer