Safe Harbor

Thanks for giving me a moment to describe this important mission, to which so many of you have contributed.

Fifteen years ago, one small church decided that no more homeless people would freeze to death in Traverse City. They opened their doors, nightly, to provide a warm dry place for the homeless to sleep. Since then, 23 other churches have joined this mission. More than 1700 community volunteers have now provide a warm dinner, a light breakfast, and a night’s rest to “those with the least among us.”  Members of St. Patrick Church have given many hours of their time.

Rotating the shelter between the churches was not a good arrangement, however. many churches were inadequate under the Fire Code; most were uncomfortable and not hygienic. Two traffic deaths occurred in route to remote churches. The difficult choice was made to give up on-site church hosting. The organization incorporated and secured non-profit status. A central location was identified and a special land use permit was negotiated with the city.

Almost two million dollars was raised and a neglected building was converted to a shelter. A warm dinner is now prepared every night in a Health Department approved kitchen. We expect that the reconstruction costs will have been paid in full within 24 months. Annual operation costs, with a professional Goodwill staffer now on duty with church volunteers through the night, will be just over $100,000.

302 different people slept in the shelter last winter. The average length of stay was 34 nights. In the first year of central shelter operations, an average of 57 quests nightly were served a total of 14,000 evening meals and we provided nearly 10,000 bed nights. 1300 loads of laundry were washed and 2400 showers were facilitated . Volunteers have now given more than 18,000 hours to this mission.

Lives have been saved and suffering has been alleviated. All of this has been achieved through the love and dedication of people like you. Thank you for being such a loving, caring Parish!
 

Joanne Willis, St. Patrick Church Safe Harbor Coordinator

After a year of prayer and reflection, I've accepted the Coordination Position for St. Patrick Church, as Gary Clous, after over 10 years of service, is stepping down.  The Good News is that Gary Clous will still be on the board and also be assisting with the overnight volunteers!!  Thank you Gary for all your dedication over the years!

Mark your calendars:  We hopefully will get the dates we'll be requessting in July which are:  Saturday, November 3rd through Saturday, November 10th or Saturday, November 24th through Saturday, December 1st.  This year we will be partnering again with The First Congregational Church, as this is my 1st year as coordinator, I will need all the help I can get!!

More Good News:  Safe Harbor has partnered with Goodwill to have paid staff from 5:30pm (doors open at 6:00pm) overnight and there until 8:30am the next morning!  That means we'll only need 2 volunteers for overnight, and that we'll have a "go to person" at Safe Harbor the entire duration our volunteers are there!

I'll be writing a monthly Safe Harbor News Update after our Coordinators Meeting to keep everyone "in the loop".

Blessings, Joanne Willis