Quarterly Shelter Notes: March 2014

Philippians 4:4-7 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NASB)
If the weatherman is to be believed, this has been one of the coldest winters on record here in northern Wisconsin. Above average snowfall, combined with below average temperatures, has pushed the frost 6 feet or more into the ground, freezing pipes and sending propane prices skyrocketing. My two sons, Chase (15) and Jonah (11), have enjoyed the several days of canceled school although it has been too cold to get out and enjoy the time off, snuggling up to watch movies all day instead. They may find it less appealing when they realize that they will be required to make up those “snow days”, stretching school into late July (possibly a slight exaggeration). They have been very active in both sports and school activities. They both just finished wrestling season, ending a streak of sports activity that began with football in August, switched to wrestling in November, and is just now ending in time to have a month off before baseball season starts. Chase is enjoying being a sophomore and learning to drive, and as such is anxiously awaiting a summer birthday and a driver’s license. Jonah is very active in choir, band, and forensics enjoying his first year in Middle School. Michelle and I are planning our summer activities and looking forward to some family time camping and spending time forcing our children to have fun, whether they like it or not.
This winter has been a wonderful time of study and fellowship for me with the addition of a Friday morning Men’s Group to compliment our regular Wednesday night Bible Study at church. We average 8-10 men on Friday mornings, each of us taking turns to present a topic and scriptures for discussion. We’ve talked about what it means to be a Christian man, how to deal with anger, finding peace, and we are currently working through a study on prayer. Quite often our shelter residents are in attendance, which is encouraging. We can only sow the seeds and pray that the ground is soft enough to allow growth.
This is historically a quiet time here at the shelter, giving us a chance to catch up and take a deep breath in preparation for a busy spring and summer, full of honeybees, Little League games, and work in the garden. We currently have 3 people staying with us, 1 family in Transitional Housing and 1 single man. We had another single man check out earlier this week. This year so far has been consistently busy, with above average shelter nights provided through the first 7 months. We consistently receive an average of 8-10 calls per month. Our case manger, Gene, is doing an excellent job and is very busy keeping the residents organized and productive. He has been a great addition to our staff. Kathy is still the rock holding down our office operations, handling most of the daily shelter needs, maintaining the food pantry database, handling donations, and phone calls, volunteering a blessing of 30-40 hours per week for the last 3 years! We wouldn’t know what to do without her and are blessed to have her here with us. Margaret takes over for Kathy three days a week in the afternoons and, along with Gene, shares in Friday’s food pantry volunteer rotation. All of our staff does a wonderful job accepting and sorting donations, answering the phones, transporting residents to appointments, baking bread for the food pantry, and volunteering their time in the pantry, helping keep our facility running smoothly, I absolutely could not do it without them.
As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, after lots of prayer and debate, we have elected NOT to participate in this years’ Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) program. It was a difficult decision and it will cost the shelter over $9,000 in funding this year, but we didn’t agree with the direction that HUD (the federal funding source behind the ESG program) was taking our shelter program. Most of the issue was that HUD is requiring that we limit the people we serve based on guidelines and requirements that were designed and suited towards an urban population. It forced us into a scenario where we would have had to deny access to the Emergency Shelter program, for certain people, despite our having empty beds. If we accept even a dollar from that program, we have to adhere to all their guidelines and stipulations on how we spend EVERY dollar we receive, no matter the funding source. We continue to apply for other state and local grants and trust the Lord to provide for the ministry HE desires. UPDATE: We have received several donations to help us with this shortfall and are blessed and humbled by the outpouring of support we continually receive to continue HIS work. Our combined state and federal grant award totals for this year are $3,200, which represents approximately 5% of our combined Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing program budgets. Every month that passes further confirms my suspicion that we have only a short time before we will no longer receive any program funding from the state. Between budget cuts and micro-management policies that conflict with our mission statement, I am seeing a time fast approaching where we will be independent of, and morally opposed to, any government involvement. Psalms 119:114-116 114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. 115 Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God! 116 Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed.
THANK YOU to all who have donated time or supplies this past year, no donation is too large or too small. We couldn’t do what we do here without YOUR help. If there is a specific area that you feel led to make a donation towards, whether that’s cleaning supplies, work clothes for the residents, transportation costs, or food, let me know and we’ll make sure it gets used for that purpose. We are truly blessed to be doing HIS work with your help.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support!
In His Service, Micah Dewing Shelter Director