Squirreling away an apple or an orange from a school lunch was a way one savvy young fellow figured out he could have a bite to eat in the evening. The little guy knew when the sun set and most families would be gathered around a table of food, he would have nothing except what he salvaged earlier in the day.

That story, shared by staff of the Warren County Children’s Shelter, along with many others is testament that there is child neglect and abuse living in Vicksburg

The good news is there is a safe place for children who have been dealt a bad hand in life.

The Warren County Children’s Shelter was established in 1991, and when the young man with the empty tummy began living at the shelter, he was fed three meals a day.

“At the children’s shelter, children get three meals a day and two snacks,” said Ola Johnson, the senior youth and childcare advisor.

At first the children will eat a lot at every meal afraid there would be no food later, but after about a week when they realize meals are served regularly, they will skip a meal or two because their stomachs are satisfied, Johnson said.

Susie Chatham worked at a children’s home in Indiana before moving to Vicksburg in 1980, and along with others in the community was instrumental in establishing the shelter and eventually appointed its first director.

Before the shelter was established, Chatham said runaway children were kept in the jail.

“I went up to the courthouse and I said this is wrong. You can’t put a runaway kid with prisoners. I walked home that day with a 16-year-old boy from Florida,” she said.

Chatham credits a local church as the catalyst for starting the children’s shelter.

“This all started at Crawford Street church,” Chatham said. “The church hosted a meeting to bring together people in the community, black and white,” she said.

It was a wonderful forum. They were talking about issues in our community and about what we could do together, she said.

Once the group determined there was a need to help children that were less fortunate, the “ball got rolling.”

Talks were held at local clubs and civic organization, she said, and eventually the board of supervisors passed a ¾ millage to get funding to start a children’s shelter.

Child abuse and neglect is not reserved only for young poor people, Chatham said.

“We have had cases from all walks of life,” she said, from lawyers to business owners.

As Chatham, Johnson, and Cindy McCarley, the current director of the Warren County Children’s Shelter, sat around a table reliving some of their most memorable cases, tears welled up in their eyes, and a their voices quivered with the raw emotion they have experienced.

“We have served over 3,000 kids, and if Ola and I can say we reached five kids this year, I can live on that a long time,” McCarley said.

Demonstrating love and letting a child know that making mistakes does not mean they are not lovable is key in the healing process for a child at the children’s shelter.

As one of the residents was set to leave the shelter, McCarley recounted their comment.

“I’m never going to be loved like I was here.”

The shelter serves newborns to 17-year-olds, and if beds are available, the shelter will house children from other communities and states. It is one of the 22 United Way of West Central Mississippi agencies and an agency of the Mississippi Children’s Home Services.

The shelter has 20 staff members and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.