I’m beginning to wonder if spring is ever going to arrive! It would seem that Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of an early spring was inaccurate, at least for here in northern Wisconsin. I suppose it does give me time to finish up on my winter reading list, and for that I am thankful.
This winter has been very busy here at the shelter. We have provided more nights of shelter this year so far (1,507 Aug. 2012-Feb. 2013) than all of last year (1,490 Aug. 2011-July 2012). We have been full and adding clients to a waiting list during several of the last few months. Things have slowed a bit as winter is coming to a close, just in time for a hectic spring schedule of grant writing, meetings, trainings, and projects here in the facility.
While we received an above average amount of calls in January we were back down to our average of about 8-10 calls in February. We are currently down to one single male resident in our Emergency Shelter program and a single male and a family of three in our Transitional Housing program. We just had a family of 4 check-out after 90 days with us. Many of our recent residents have been blessed to be able to find both employment and housing here in the community.
Our office staff ladies have been busy accepting and sorting donations, answering the phones, transporting residents to appointments, and volunteering their time in the food pantry. Kathy is our primary secretary/receptionist handling most of the daily shelter needs, maintaining the food pantry database, handling donations, and phone calls. Valerie helps Kathy manage the office operations as well as helping balance the books, and process grant applications among her other AmeriCorps duties. Margaret takes over for Kathy three days a week in the afternoons and shares in Friday’s food pantry volunteer rotation. Angela contracts with both Social Services and us doing most of our in-depth case management with the residents, which has been a welcome and much needed addition. She also shares the Friday pantry rotation with Margaret. All of these ladies do a wonderful job keeping the shelter running smoothly, I absolutely could not do it without them.
Our Transitional Housing Program (THP) has been a great success! We have two, efficiency style, one-bedroom apartments. We have had three single residents and one family throughout the year transitioning from our emergency shelter program into our THP apartments. It has been a great compliment to our emergency shelter program as well as an overflow resource when the shelter is full.
Starting over with little more than the clothes on your back can seem intimidating, overwhelming, impossible even. Tending to basic needs, understanding the right questions to ask, and setting realistic achievable goals is where we step in and help, for those that are willing to listen. Helping our residents understand that they have the ability to meet their own basic needs is sometimes difficult. Some take right off and do extremely well, while others are busy making excuses for why they can’t succeed. Many of our residents are on the phone, in the paper, looking online, and beating the streets daily to make things happen. Some have not quite yet come to the realization that their life is their own responsibility and THEY have the power to either make or break it, no one else is going to do it for them. It’s difficult sometimes seeing people check-in and check-out knowing that they are not at that point in their lives where growth is possible. What’s important to remember is that no matter the attitude of the person in need, we are here to help show the way, HIS way.
Colossians 3: 12-17 Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful. Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Please join with us in praise and prayer about this winter’s FCP Foundation grant application and this spring’s Emergency Shelter Grant application. We received a State Shelter Subsidy Grant award of $2,813 for 2013. Please keep in prayer our staff, community service volunteers, and our residents as we are presented with the opportunity to help share the Gospel and meet the needs of the families in our area. We received a wonderful response from our letters to area business again this year raising over $2,800! It’s overwhelming sometimes to see how the Lord works in His people.
THANK YOU to all who have donated or volunteered this past year, no donation is too large or too small. Many of our supporters are helping us do His work five and ten dollars, one to two hours at a time. If there is a specific area that you feel led to make a donation towards, whether that’s cleaning supplies, transportation costs, or food, let me know and we’ll make sure it gets used for that purpose. Please join us in prayer and praise about the work He is doing here!
I’m terrible at keeping our website “www.newhopeshelter.net” up to date but feel free to come check us out anyway. You can also find us on Facebook. Please feel free to contact me anytime: via email at director@newhopeshelter.net , via phone (715) 478-3669
Thanks again for your support and prayers!
In His service, Micah Dewing Shelter Director