I John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from allsin.
“Walking in the light” is one of the key challenges our residents face along with finding steady employment, stable housing, dependable transportation, and consistent food. It can be a challenge to do in 90 days, even if you’re motivated. Some of our residents do well, while others struggle to fight off old habits, addictions, or manipulative mentalities, falling back into the same destructive ruts to be dragged down again.
Our purpose is to provide a stable platform from which to grow, without the stress of making a choice between rent or food or gas. We provide the temporary shelter, transportation and food, then help get people to the other resources in the area to arrange more permanent solutions. My challenge is figuring out how to shake up those old bedrock mindsets that prevent growth, encouraging people that there are other choices and that to get something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done.
Summer is upon us and things start to get real busy around here. Work groups, community gardens, little league and softball games in the ball field, people coming and going all the time, it can get hectic but it’s encouraging to see how many people we get to interact with. God is good!
Things here at the shelter have been consistently busy. We have remained at our average of about 4-6 people in residence at any given time these last six months. We continue to get 8-10 calls every month. Some we can help, others we cannot, due to space limitations, abusive history, or a refusal to remain sober. We also continue to receive generous donations of time, funds, and materials to supply that demand. We have also been blessed with extra help these last six months as we have had additional volunteers besides our main volunteer office staff of Valerie and Kathy. Kathy has taken on new responsibilities working in the library and Valerie has been helping out in the pantry. Our newest part-time volunteer, Margaret, has been filling in for Kathy in the afternoons. They all help us keep up with the paperwork, phone calls and donations that would otherwise be overwhelming. They are doing a great job and giving a lot of themselves to be here every day. I wonder how we survived without them. Valerie’s internship is over and she has recently been hired as a Tribal AmeriCorps Program worker. We are her host site and she is working approximately 45 hours per week, both here and in the local community, interacting with local youth in a drug and alcohol prevention capacity until August 2012. She is currently considering another term in the AmeriCorps program, and we would be her host site again.
We would like to say “thank you” to you, our local community, friends, and supporters from across the country as we continue to help our residents find employment, housing, transportation, clothes, food and counseling. We are also grateful for recent donations of many other supplies including food, toiletries, batteries, laundry supplies, phone cards, gift cards, and cleaning supplies we’ve received these months to serve and maintain the shelter. The Lord is blessing us every day.
Please join with us in praise and prayer about this spring’s Emergency Shelter Grant application and continued fundraising efforts. We recently received an award from the State Shelter Subsidy Grant program in the amount of about $3,400 for this 2012 year. We were also recently blessed with funds from the Forest County Potawatomi Foundation that will help carry us into the future and allow us to be able to continue to do the work here a while longer. Please keep in prayer our staff, community service volunteers, and our residents as we are presented with the opportunity to help share the Gospel as well as meet the needs of the families in our area.
Thank you so much for both your prayer and support, we are operating and able to remain open and helping people in need because of your generosity. We are truly blessed to be doing His work with your help.
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
In His service,
Micah Dewing
Shelter Director