Why a homeless shelter in Lapeer?
Well, in 2000 I was involved in a ministry called Manna Ministries that acted as a clearing house for the area congregations wishing to help those in need in the county. That’s when I learned that there were homless in our small town. I had had no idea that this was possible around here. I had never seen a homeless person sleeping out on the street like you would in some big city. Our homeless didn’t sleep on the street. They “couch surf” a term I had never heard.
I was troubled. “There must be something we can do”, I wondered. So, I told the coordinator of Manna Ministires that I would help. He developed a plan to start small by helping the local domestic abuse shelter with their overflow. I attended a few meetings with him and the people running the abuse shelter, but nothing came of it.
I was not able to let it go. I talked about it to whomever would listen in the church. It wasn’t until 2001 that I was able through the help of the new coordinator of Love Inc. (formely known as Manna Ministries) to get a meeting together of concerened citizens. We developed a steering committee, which turned into a board of directors. After much planning and policy making we were ready to launch the first ever rotating homeless shelter in Lapeer County. Rotating shelter meant we were depending on area congregations to give of their time and buildings to house the homeless overnight through the winter months. We set our date to open in the last two weeks of November with only three congregations signed up to help. Two weeks before we opened we finally obtained a place for the intake of our guests. That year I believe we sheltered about a dozen people. Every year we have grown. Over the winter of 2007-2008 we had 20 congregations involved and housed, fed, and clothed 57 people from November 25 until April 14.
The Refuge has been an ever evolving ministry that has stretched, and shaped many in the Church spiritually. We are always looking closely at our motivations and goals to clearly define our role in the community. It has been the most rewarding and difficult thing I’ve ever been involved in. I am deeply blessed and honored to be a part of what God is doing through The Refuge.
In this blog I hope to share some of the amazing things that have happened, things I’ve learned, and thing’s that I hope to see happen some day through this ministry to the homeless.
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