06/03/2026
On Thursday, June 4, beginning at 6:30 a.m., an incredible team of volunteers will be out across Olean, Allegany, Portville, and Salamanca for the annual Community Day newspaper sale. Special $1 editions of the Olean Times Herald will be available at key intersections, including Main Street and North First in Allegany near High Point Credit Union and the 7-Eleven.
Here is the Article for 2025!
Genesis House provides stability, dignity in difficult times
“When you have stability, it gives you the ability to recover.”
That’s how one former resident of Genesis House described his experience staying at the shelter, nearly one year after he found permanent housing. While he was at Genesis House, he found permanent housing. He also found a job and a support system he returns to when he needs advice or a friendly face.
Genesis House of Olean operates two homeless shelters. The main shelter at 107 S. Barry St. serves adult men and women. Homeless families are housed a few blocks away in individual apartments, each independently as a family.
This allows each family to live with dignity as they navigate a difficult time.
All of the people who stay at Genesis House set individual goals and are seeking permanent housing.
Genesis House staff helps residents set goals.
Residents check in with case managers daily to track their progress. There are also weekly individual and group meetings during which they discuss life skills topics like budgeting, being a good tenant, handling stress and how to communicate with landlords.
Residents in the adult shelter are assigned chores as part of living in the community. Each person or family is responsible for keeping their own space clean, doing laundry, and cooking their own meals just as they will be when they move out. Often, the adults in shelter form friendships and cook together in small groups.
Genesis House also served as the county’s Code Blue Warming Center again this winter. “There are 17 beds in the adult shelter, but including code blue we can serve as many as 23 people in a single night,” said Melissa Yaworsky, executive director of Genesis House. “Having the Code Blue Warming Center has expanded the number of people we serve. The whole staff is doing more outreach to people who are unsheltered.”
The family shelter can house three families at a time, but there is still a lot of unmet need. Genesis House is looking for ways to grow the program to better meet the needs of the people in our community.
In 2024, Genesis House provided shelter for 141 regular single adult residents and 11 families, including their 15 children. They provided 6756 nights of shelter, the most in any single year since they opened in 1995.
During the 2024-2025 code blue season, there were an additional 1125 nights of shelter provided. Genesis House is a United Way agency. More information can be found at genesishouseofolean.org.
