Mason City takes part in Point-In-Time count

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Point in time census in Mason City

The day's local, regional and national news, detailed events and late-breaking stories are presented by the ABC 6 News Team, along with the latest sports, weather updates including the extended forecast.

(ABC 6 News) – Not unlike any other city across the country, on any given night in Mason City, there are a lot of people who don’t have a place to call home.

So, a group called “Friends of the Family” came together to learn just how many homeless people are living on the streets of Mason City.

“We go out into the communities that we serve, and we connect with individuals experiencing homelessness, and we collect some of their data to turn back to HUD,” Friends of the Family service access manager Caitlyn Kupka said.

Every year, they head onto the streets of Mason City to count the number of people experiencing homelessness.

This is the third year and each year, participants say the numbers vary.

“It has always fallen between like 30 and 40 to 45,” Kupka said.

Other service organizations join forces to do what they can to help out.

Organizations like the community kitchen, where those experiencing homelessness can get a free meal learn more about the resources available to them.

“Some are on the verge of losing everything, they’re sleeping outside, they want to know what they can do, what services are there,” Friends of the Family volunteer Lori Meacham-Ginapp said.

Once all the data is collected, each group submits the information to the Housing of Urban Development.

Friends of the Family looks to have a final count by Monday. They’ll then reach out to those individuals for further assistance.