When I first began my work as interim community minister, I quickly realized the major need for short term housing for homeless people, especially families. The few shelter spots in our town are geared toward single occupants, not families. The only solution at the time was to put the families in local hotels--an expensive, band-aid solution. And truthfully, it hurt me to take a mother with a small child and drop them off at our cheapest hotel in town. I wanted and prayed for a better, safer, more hopeful option.
One Friday I mentioned this to some friends while we watched our daughters at gymnastics. To my surprise--and joy--they offered an apartment for us to use. They had been looking for ways to use one or some of the properties they owned in ministry.
Fast forward to now. Through donations from a couple of families and a few items the church had in storage, the apartment is almost fully furnished. I hope to pick up the full size bed we need on Thursday. Donations of other household items are slowly trickling in.
Yes, I want to paint that bookshelf. And put a few more things on the walls. I'm working on that. I hope that with the arrival of our new community minister, and the last few items we need to make this a good short-term home, we can get this in use by the beginning of September. I'm also hoping, and praying, that with the arrival of the new community minister we can find the funding to pay for the other apartment in the complex that is available and offer one more option to desperate families in our community.
We definitely have the dishes to do so. Boxes and boxes, half of which I loaded up today. Dishes are heavy.
If you want to help, we have a TargetList set up under my name. You can access it from the website or the registry kiosks in the store. Most of the items are small kitchen items, bedding, or just basic cleaning supplies. I hope to keep this list up long-term for the FBC Community Ministry needs, so I have also included bike locks for our Bikes and Bibles program.
One Friday I mentioned this to some friends while we watched our daughters at gymnastics. To my surprise--and joy--they offered an apartment for us to use. They had been looking for ways to use one or some of the properties they owned in ministry.
Fast forward to now. Through donations from a couple of families and a few items the church had in storage, the apartment is almost fully furnished. I hope to pick up the full size bed we need on Thursday. Donations of other household items are slowly trickling in.
We definitely have the dishes to do so. Boxes and boxes, half of which I loaded up today. Dishes are heavy.
If you want to help, we have a TargetList set up under my name. You can access it from the website or the registry kiosks in the store. Most of the items are small kitchen items, bedding, or just basic cleaning supplies. I hope to keep this list up long-term for the FBC Community Ministry needs, so I have also included bike locks for our Bikes and Bibles program.
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