Fence installed at Troop 7 tent city, no impact to residents

Mike Agnew is relieved the tent city at the old Delaware State Police Troop 7 location outside Lewes is going to stay as is for the next two weeks.

The volunteer coordinator for Code Purple at the Cape has been watching a fence go up around part of the property where a temporary salt barn structure will be placed by the Delaware Department of Transportation.

Agnew had been concerned the fence could force the tent city to shut down early. But now, that is not the case.

DelDOT spokesman C.R. McLeod confirmed the fence will not impact the tent city. He said all the work will be finished in December.

“The state told me that [DelDOT] is not the enemy of Code Purple. Code Purple is not going to be the enemy of [DelDOT],” Agnew said at the organization’s volunteer information night event Nov. 11. 

The state is building a gravel road around the fence to provide access to the tents for emergency vehicles and for the on-site dumpster.

The tent city, called “Tharros,” a Greek word meaning courage, opened Oct. 15 to provide workforce housing. Agnew said most of the people who are staying there have jobs, but cannot afford rent.

The tent city will close for the season Saturday, Nov. 30. Code Purple’s seven Sussex County overnight shelters will open the next evening.

Agnew said all the stakeholders, which include Beebe Healthcare and Delaware State Police, will meet to evaluate the 45-day experiment.

“In my opinion, it was a great success,” Agnew said. “It was a self-governed neighborhood and the residents were happy to live there.”

Code Purple has a men’s shelter at St. Jude the Apostle in Lewes and a women’s shelter at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Rehoboth Beach. The organization has men’s and women’s shelters in Milford and Seaford and a men’s shelter in Georgetown.

Code Purple provides transportation to and from the shelters. Volunteers also deliver hot meals to shelter residents each night.

Agnew said Ocean Suds laundromat at Midway does the shelter’s sheets and blankets free of charge, 160 pounds every Tuesday.

The shelter recently started a storage locker program in partnership with Casella Waste Management. Casella has provided 30 bins that are kept at a secure storage facility on Coastal Highway where Code Purple shelter guests can keep their personal belongings.

About 250 people attended Code Purple’s volunteer recruitment meeting at St. Jude’s. They are looking to fill 1,000 seasonal volunteer slots for a variety of positions, including intake assistants, overnight hosts and van drivers to take guests to and from shelters. They also need volunteers to monitor the storage lockers during the day on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Agnew said they had 150 volunteers by the end of last season.

“After spending the night at one of our shelters, you feel like a hero. You did something that doesn’t require at lot of skill, but you did something amazing,” Agnew said.

The City of Lewes has discussed giving a portion of its remaining $150,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to support the tent city in the future. The allocation of ARPA money will be on the agenda at a mayor and city council special meeting set for Friday, Nov. 22.

Agnew said he hopes the incoming administration of Gov. Matt Meyer will lead to new opportunities as well.

For more information and to sign up to volunteer go to loveincofmiddelmarva.org/code-purple or email codepurple@stjudelewes.org.