The Cornerstone of Beaver County provides services to those in need | KD Sunday Spotlight
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Inside The Cornerstone of Beaver County, you'll meet gentlemen like William Anthony Walker or as friends call him, "Tony". "I just want to get my life back in order that's all," said Walker.
He doesn't have a home right now, so he comes to TCBC's twenty-four-hour men's shelter. It's the only one of its kind in Beaver County. "Yes, it is, it is very much saving lives," said Walker, "I could've been out on the street frozen or anywhere."
This space provides more than shelter from a storm. It provides food, beds, and support for people experiencing homelessness.
TCBC's Executive Director, Marie Timpano said, "It's much needed. The shelter is full most of the time and we serve everybody from veterans to the elderly, to at our Beaver Falls location individuals and families as well."
If you talk with the nonprofit's executive director, you'll understand why this mission matters to her. "I lost my eldest brother Michael in 1996 to a drug overdose while he was homeless in California." Timpano said, "No family should have to go through that. Every life has value, no matter what one's circumstances might be."
Marie Timpano started the nonprofit in 2016. Since then, it's helped over 8,000 people, and the mission is to help the unhoused become stable, independent members of our community. Timpano said, "We believe housing is a right, not a luxury, as we do with healthcare."
That's where this mobile health clinic helps. It's the newest feature TCBC is providing, for our vulnerable population. Its healthcare on wheels with The Primary Health Network, and it is providing primary care services, medication management, and vaccines, at the nonprofit's back door.
Primary Health Network's Director of Operations Quality Control, Nick Baron said, "By coming here we can remove the most visible barriers right. Transportation, ability to pay. Those are things that health centers do. That's our role is to overcome those things."
Taking a stand to help end homelessness takes connection, emotionally and physically, with those going through tough times.
"The most important thing is compassion," said Baron. He said, "The idea was meet initial needs while on the mobile unit, but connect those to those other services."
These wraparound services cut homelessness down. Timpano said, "We've seen recidivism back into the homeless system decrease, length of time in homelessness decrease, and we believe we have been a part of that."
All these efforts are part of a positive change. For Walker, it's showing this nonprofit knows everyone's life has value, and there's someone to support and care for them every step of the way.
"The counselors down here are very nice. They're awesome people," said Walker. Now on the road to finding stable housing, Walker said he's "clean and sober, I'm not doing the alcohol or anything anymore."
Timpano mentioned the nonprofit partners with others in the community to make all this happen.
According to January's Point in Time survey, Beaver County's most recent data is from 2023, which shows only one homeless person was on the streets without shelter. That means the rest of the population who's considered homeless were either in transitional or emergency housing.
KDKA independently looked at the data on homelessness in Beaver County. It appears significantly fewer people are homeless in Beaver County compared to 2016, when the nonprofit opened. It dropped from an average of 115 homeless people each year for the seven years since the nonprofit started, to just 70 in 2023 when the nonprofit's shelter opened.
