For many people, being out in the cold is just an inconvenience while getting from one point to another — both of which are usually indoors.
But for some people, the cold is a reality of life as they have no way to escape it, no house to go home to at the end of the night.
As host of the Eastside Emergency Winter Shelter (EWS) from mid-October through the end of December 2015, Redmond United Methodist Church (RUMC) provided a brief escape with a warm and dry place for people to stay as the temperature outside dropped.
WORKING TOGETHER
Although EWS is operated by The Sophia Way — a nonprofit organization based in Bellevue whose mission is to help end homelessness for adult women in King County by providing shelter, life-skills training, social services and supportive permanent housing — the organization has subcontracted with Catholic Community Services of Western Washington to run the day-to-day operations of the shelter.
“They’re basically doing it all,” said Angela Murray, executive director of The Sophia Way. “We just support them through financing.”
Bill Hallerman with CCSWW said opening EWS at RUMC has been “an amazing commitment” by pastor Lara Bolger and her congregation in reaching out to homeless women and families in East King County.
“Serving 50 women a night, the church has provided a wonderful and welcoming space for (those who) have no place to go in these cold months,” Hallerman said. “The women and families enter the shelter at 8:30 each night, receive a wonderful meal prepared by community volunteers and have the opportunity to rest and refresh each night.”
RUMC and Sophia Way have partnered together to provide shelter for homeless women since 2008.
Janet Shelton, RUMC coordinator for the EWS since October 2008, said at the time, there was an immediate need for shelter during the winter season, but Sophia Way did not have the capacity to accommodate the homeless women. So RUMC offered their church as a “warm, safe and comfortable place for these women,” Shelton said. That first year, she said it took their church about three weeks to prepare and delegate to volunteer church members.
“We started from scratch with our own ideas and direction, and developed a program, which would feed, bed, shower and offer a comfortable and safe environment for these women in need,” Shelton said. “When I look back, it was quite an efficient and successful program our church completed.”
In addition to this shelter, the church has hosted Congregations for the Homeless men’s shelter for the past 22 years, which provides shelter for 30 days each year for about 35 men, she said.
Murray said EWS serves single adult women as well as families. The latter is a new change from previous years as it used to be only women and children who were allowed at the shelter. This is the first time, families — meaning fathers, whether they are with a partner or are a single parent — are also allowed to stay at the shelter.
“Our congregation has been very supportive,” Shelton said about RUMC hosting the shelters. “Our mission is to ‘love, serve, grow,’ and we strive to live this by opening our doors to the homeless each year.”
She said while EWS was at RUMC, church members volunteered to cook meals, provide blankets and clothing — providing help wherever help was needed. Shelton said it has provided an opportunity for people to open their hearts to each other and create community.
Bolger added that the help extended beyond the church walls.
“This year we saw an outpouring of generosity from the community of Redmond to support the needs of the shelter for which we are grateful,” she said. “Our friends who face homelessness need the support of the entire community and it is amazing what can be done when we work together.”
GROWING NEED, GROWING CONCERNS
Despite community members’ involvement, things are not perfect.
“Our concern has been having the capacity to meet the needs of all the homeless families, women and children,” Shelton said. “Since the number of homeless people is growing each year, we were concerned about our capacity limit to meet the demand.”
A new addition to the EWS will address this concern.
Now that the shelter has left RUMC, it has moved to Bellevue First Congregational Church (BFC). Murray said they will also open a second shelter so they will be able to split the populations with single adult women in one location and families in the other location. The second shelter will be at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church, also in Bellevue.
Together, Murray said they will be able to double the number of people they serve from about 50 to about 110. Despite having twice the capacity, she said they do not think they will have any extra room at either shelter.
“We anticipate that the shelters will fill up,” she said, adding that the second shelter is scheduled to open around Jan. 15.
In addition, Murray said the Red Lion Hotel in Bellevue has donated four rooms to EWS, which can be used for women and families if the shelter reaches capacity. The hotel donated the rooms from December to when the second shelter location is scheduled to open later this month.
Both shelters are open from 8:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Murray cited a lack of funding for why the shelters cannot be open more hours — although they were able to extend their hours on holidays. They also are not able to provide much in terms of services related to housing, also due to a lack of funding. At EWS, Murray said, in addition to shelter for the night, clients can also have dinner.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES AND HELP
For those seeking additional services, she said Sophia Way’s day center in the basement of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church at 3030 Bellevue Way N.E. offers a place where women can shower, eat breakfast and/or lunch and see various service providers such as a nurse or a dental van. In addition, the day center also offers limited case services.
She said EWS, which opens every winter, typically runs from about mid-November and runs through April. But this year, they were able to secure some additional funding that has allowed them to open in October and they are going to try to keep it open through mid May, Murray said.
For those who would like to help EWS, Murray said they could use gift cards — as opposed to actual items — to places such as McDonald’s, Starbucks or anywhere clients can sit down and have a meal. Gift cards to grocery stores would also be appreciated.
“They can’t take all of that supplies with them,” Murray said, pointing out that many clients would not have any means to transport and store larger items.
