Our Sisters’ House Director shines light on Homelessness Awareness Month

Once again, it’s the time of year for November Homelessness Awareness Month.

My name is Margaret, and I am the Director of Our Sisters’ House Shelter (OSH), right here in Tomahawk. Our Sisters’ House is a ten-bed shelter that provides temporary housing for area residents who have lost housing and need a hand in rebuilding their lives. We’ve been here for 11 years now, and we’re planning on being here for as long as our services are needed.

It’s easy to dismiss the problem of homelessness in a small community like Tomahawk. We don’t see encampments like in the big city, and there’s nobody standing outside Kwik Trip holding a “will work for food” sign. Besides, aren’t most homeless people just drug addicts or alcoholics? Why should we care? Here at the shelter, we know that the reality of rural homelessness is much more complicated and pervasive than most of the greater community can ever imagine. The largest percentage of homeless persons in Wisconsin is actually in our rural communities – nearly 60% of the state’s homeless population is in rural, not urban, counties.

Who are the people we serve? The short answer is most of OSH’s clients are just like you and me. Many northern Wisconsinites are struggling with skyrocketing rental prices and a shortage of affordable housing. We’re stretched by high costs for gas and food, and wages that just don’t seem to go very far anymore. When something bad happens, whether it’s medical bills or an expensive car repair or a lost job, many of us just don’t have the resources to manage, and from there, it’s a small step to eviction or foreclosure. Some of us are seniors living on fixed incomes who are especially vulnerable to financial stress. Others are struggling with illness or disability. Losing shelter during the winter can even be a matter of life and death when the temperature drops. The reality of modern life is that most of us are far more vulnerable than we’d like to admit, and when life goes off the rails, there’s not a very big safety net waiting to catch us if we fall.

Here in Tomahawk, Our Sisters’ House is part of that safety net. We serve an average of 30 to 40 people each year. So far in 2026, our clients have ranged in age from eight weeks to 75 years old. Men and women have been equally represented, and roughly half of our clients are seniors. Only about 10% are struggling with addiction issues. The average length of stay is 65 days, and most of our clients are able to depart into considerably improved circumstances from what they were experiencing prior to entering the shelter.

When someone comes into OSH, they meet with our Case Manager and our dedicated staff to determine what led to homelessness in the first place, and then together we devise a workable plan to solve those issues and ultimately transition to permanent housing. Common interventions include developing an income either by employment, or for those who qualify, Social Security, because some type of income is necessary to cover rent and expenses. We make sure clients can access needed services like Badgercare and FoodShare and help them to make and get to medical appointments. In the end, a housed, employed person is an asset to our community. They pay taxes, shop locally, work in local businesses and attend local events, and in every way help to build a thriving community.

I’d like to share a bittersweet story about someone we helped that provides an answer to why we do what we do. “Louise” (not her real name) was brought to OSH by a Merrill police officer. A welfare check found this 69-year-old lady living in a poorly heated, leaking trailer in freezing November weather. Louise had some cognitive issues and a complicated medical history that included a seizure disorder, and it took some real detective work to uncover her story. What we found was terribly sad. She’d been living for decades in the same apartment, faithfully paying her rent every month with a check, until the building was sold. The new owner required all rents to be paid online. Louise wasn’t able to use a computer or Smartphone, so she kept sending a check – and got evicted for supposedly not paying rent simply because she didn’t understand the system. She was a widow, her only child was long deceased, and there was no one to help. We’re not sure how she ended up in the trailer, but she was known to the Merrill police, and they ended up bringing her to OSH.

Because there’s such a shortage of affordable rental housing, an eviction record makes it nearly impossible to find rental housing, even if you’re someone who actually did pay the rent and maintained a spotless living area. Louise ended up staying with us for seven months before we found an apartment here in Tomahawk that would accept her. Even though we usually try to limit shelter stays to 90 days, sending an elder with a seizure disorder to an unknown fate never entered our heads.

During her time at OSH, Louise thrived. She was able to keep up with medical appointments and her medication schedule. She gained some much-needed weight, and even her doctors commented on how well she was doing. After she moved into her new place, the staff at OSH continued to look out for Louise, checking that there was food in the fridge and bringing her to the shelter every week to do laundry and attend the St. Mary’s Community Meal, and making sure that she had a place to go for Christmas dinner. When something went wrong and her rent check bounced, we were the ones the landlord called – fortunately, it was an easily solved banking error. OSH became her social safety net and a source of much needed social contact and friendship.

And finally, the day when we knocked on her door and didn’t get an answer, we were the ones who called for the welfare check when she quietly passed away from natural causes. While the story has a sad ending, OSH made sure that this sometimes sweet, sometimes feisty elder lived the last years of her life in a warm, comfortable place where she was looked after by members of the community.

Our Sisters’ House is a nonprofit that runs entirely on grants, fundraisers and donations from local businesses, churches and private individuals. We are overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors, and we’re always looking for volunteers to help with the board and with fundraising. We gladly accept monetary donations, no matter how small or big, and donations of groceries and household items. Our Facebook page is Our Sisters’ House, Tomahawk WI and has information about the shelter as well as a link to our new Amazon Wishlist and our new QR codes with volunteer information and for donations via PayPal. In November, look at area businesses for our “House Sale” fundraiser where you can buy a “house” for just a buck to help us get real people into real housing. Help us to build a stronger Tomahawk for everyone!

Our Sisters’ House is located at 328 E. Washington Ave., Tomahawk, Wis., 54487 (right next door to St. Mary’s Church). Contact us at 715-224-3520 or oursistershouse.truth@gmail.com.