Room at the Inn’s Warming Shelter along Washington Street in Marquette is shown. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — To raise awareness on homelessness locally, Room at the Inn is hosting Homelessness in the 906 Friday evening as part of the Lifting Up Community Dialogue Series.

From 6-7:30 p.m. at Ore Dock Brewing Co. in Marquette, community members can enjoy ice cream provided by Jilbert Dairy, listen to a panel discussion from homeless service representatives and take part in a poverty simulation.

The Lifting Up Community Dialogue Series “aims to provide a platform for bringing lesser known or under-discussed issues affecting (the) community to the forefront by bringing together diverse voices and perspectives surrounding a common issue,” the Facebook event states.

The event is a fundraiser for Room at the Inn and an educational opportunity for the community, said Nick Emmendorfer, executive director of RATI.

“One, right now, it’s a hot topic. A lot of people are asking questions wanting to know what’s going on with homelessness and, two, part of solving homelessness is getting all the key players in the community working together, and a big first piece of that is getting the whole community educated on what the issue is and what the solutions are for the issue,” Emmendorfer said.

He hopes those who attend the event will better understand the scope of homelessness locally. He also noted that RATI along with the Janzen House, Community Action Alger-Marquette and others are key players in the community working to transition people out of homelessness.

Representatives from those organizations, as well as St. Vincent de Paul-Marquette and Lutheran Social Services, will make up the panel that will discuss the challenges faced by the homeless population and answer questions from the community.

The poverty simulation to take place at the event will demonstrate some of the struggles faced by homeless individuals such as trying to get services, pay bills, manage assets and deal with background factors that may contribute to their poverty, Emmendorfer said.

Raising awareness of homelessness is the first step in combating the problem, he said. On a trip to Seattle, he saw homelessness on a much wider scale. With over 11,000 homeless individuals, it made the 25 to 30 guests housed by RATI each night seem like an issue that could be overcome by the local community.

“When you look at it from that perspective, I like to look at it as we have an opportunity to get ahead of the issue instead of behind it,” Emmendorfer said. “It’s important that the community gets involved because the homeless population we’re serving, the majority of them are other community members and it’d be really nice if we could get the community to recognize the homeless population as fellow community members that we need to look out for and provide humane services to look out for our most vulnerable.”

Conversation will begin at 6 p.m. and a $10 suggested donation will be collected at the door. Emmendorfer encouraged the community to attend the event.

“One, to come get some free ice cream,” he said. “It’ll be a fun night full of events, panel discussion, poverty simulation; and, two, because there’s rumors that float around about homelessness and if you want to get some clear and concise answers as to what’s going on with homelessness, attending Friday’s event is going to be a really great way to do that.”

The event is part of Homelessness Awareness Month. Ore Dock Brewing Co. will be collecting new and gently used winter gear, such as coats, boots, hats, gloves, socks, etc., throughout November to be donated to RATI guests.

On Saturday, a kick-off for the Walk A Mile In Their Shoes Awareness Walk will be held at 10 a.m. in lot 61 of the Berry Events Center parking lot in Marquette.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206.