WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — "We got about 30 to 40 different vets out here, and I'm not just talking about males I'm talking about females too who have actually fought in the war. And it actually disgusts me." said Eric Dietrich,
Dietrich, now a volunteer at the Keystone Mission, was once sleeping in the very homeless encampment at Kirby Park that was cleared out this morning.
With the only shelters available in the city at full capacity, he says those who were displaced are tasked with finding where to lay their heads tonight.
"There's rights and wrongs in everything you know. Them fellas might need a place to sleep at, and you know me myself been through there done that. I know how it is to be outside and be going through this so I feel bad for them guys but then again the stuff the time that a lot of people waste down there that's the part I'm against." said Eddie Martinez, who is experiencing homelessness.
At Ruth's Place, the only women's shelter in Luzerne County, staff members say they are doing everything they can to help women who lived at encampment, despite being at full capacity.
"Yeah, so anyone who is displaced from the Kirby Park cleanout they were welcome at ruth's place. We were offering them space in our isolation apartment.
Anywhere that we could possibly fit cot, a bed, anything you know we were prepared to take in as many women as possible." said Gabrielle Frigano, Program Firector at Ruth's Place.
Apart from the Keystone Mission and Ruth's Place those who lived at the Kirby Park encampment were also directed towards Mother Teresa's Haven, a daily shelter in Wilkes-Barre. With shelters at full capacity, shelter staff say they are doing everything they can to accommodate people but, in the end, they are forced to turn some away.