Revival of Grays Harbor will be reopening its cold-weather homeless shelter soon, thanks to the Grays Harbor Board of Commissioners expediting payment on the program’s monthly grant.

The nonprofit homeless assistance group operates a seasonal overnight shelter in the basement of First Union Methodist Church in Aberdeen, opening its doors any night the temperature is espected to dip below 35 degrees.

Revival receives much of its funding from a $26,000 grant from the county, which was awarded in the fall and is given out in monthly increments from November to March. In order to receive the money, the contract requires Revival to provide the county with a detailed invoice that breaks down how it spends the funds.

This includes Revival’s four employees’ schedules, job descriptions, the nights they open the shelter and how many people stay over each of those nights. After reviewing these costs, the county then provides organizations such as Revival a reimbursement at the end of the month that matches its spending.

But the Revival staff were late to submit the November invoice, which meant it was without any funds at the start of January. This forced Revival to close the shelter Tuesday and Wednesday this week, when it otherwise would’ve been open since the temperature dropped to right around 35 degrees both nights. According to Revival employee Andy Astells, it was tough to inform one of the homeless guests that they could not keep open the shelter until funds were received.

“This guest broke down crying afraid that they could die sleeping outside in this weather and that they were so cold last night,” Astells wrote on the Revival Facebook page. “It was so difficult, they depend on us when it’s cold like this.”

Revival didn’t submit the bill to the county until a week after the Dec. 8 deadline, and even then didn’t have some necessary information, such as how many guests were staying at the shelter each night, and what the weather was each time they opened to confirm it met their cold-weather criteria to open. The final paperwork got turned in Wednesday morning, and the $2,900 reimbursement wasn’t set to come in until late in the month.

However, after hearing about the shelter’s closure this week, Commissioner Vickie Raines made an exception to the typical schedule and sped up the reimbursement approval process to get it signed by the auditor and commissioners Wednesday. Raines was initially upset that Revival co-founder Emily Reed posted video and text on the Facebook page claiming the county had unfairly delayed the payment, but decided to expedite the reimbursement because of the important service it provides to homeless residents in the area.

“My reason for going to ask for the payment to be processed expeditiously is not because of Emily Reed’s posts, it’s because I want that shelter open for those people in our community,” said Raines. “I appreciate all she’s trying to do, it’s just that they all need to review the contract.”

November was Revival’s first month under its new contract with the county, and Raines thought this was mostly just a case of an organization not being used to all the specific requirements to invoice. She also pointed out that the county sent multiple emails to Revival’s treasurer explaining when the deadline for the invoice was.

“It’s frustrating that they’re making it look like it’s our fault,” said Raines. “Our housing coordinator had spoken with them multiple times that they need this information, saying, ‘This is how we need it,’ and these dialogues have been going back to early November.”

Revival’s Executive Director Phil Calloway said they were surprised by the level of detail needed for their invoice, and that some of Revival’s board members didn’t fully understand the complexities of the contract with the county.

“Basically none of (the staff) understand the program, you have to have all your ducks in a row, or you can’t get paid for it,” said Calloway. “It was such a long contract that it would put you to sleep, so I’m sure they didn’t read all the way through it, I think that had a lot to do with it. We didn’t know we were going to be expected to maintain the numbers to this extent. The more we get into the county grant, the less we want to have one. They’re just way too involved there.”

Calloway said he appreciated Raines speeding up the process to give them their reimbursement, and that hopefully in the future they won’t have this type of mixup.

“I think with Vickie stepping in like she did to make sure things are sent in the way we have to, it’ll definitely get better,” he said.

The shelter is not going to be open tonight, seeing as the temperature is not set to go below 35 degrees. But Reed said they would the next time chillier weather rolls in, and thanked Raines on Facebook for getting the payment sent over to them speedily. Raines said she was happy to help.

“They’re trying to do a really good thing, and I think that’s awesome,” said Raines. “Not a lot of other people are out there volunteering. If I can help them in anyway, I’m here.”