As the temperature continues to drop, more than a dozen congregations are opening their doors to provide a safe, warm haven for those who are homeless.
“Everybody in the church is involved,” said Debra Wiggins, who coordinates the cold-weather shelter effort for Locust United Methodist Church in Columbia. “It?s all a part of giving and belonging.”
For the fourth season, 15 churches and synagogues are housing dozens of homeless people in Howard County who might otherwise be turned away from the county?s only emergency shelter, Grassroots Intervention Center.
The cold-weather shelter runs from mid-November to March, and congregations provide the room, transportation and meals.
“We were getting up to 3,000 turn-aways for shelter every year,” said Andrea Ingram, executive director of the Grassroots Intervention Center. “It was getting out of hand, and we needed to do something, particularly because other jurisdictions were experiencing the same problem, and it wasn?t right for Howard County to send people to other jurisdictions.”
Last year, the cold-weather shelter served 97 people, including six families, Ingram said.
The churches rotate, providing the site for a week or two at a time, she said.
At Locust, which is hosting the shelter this week, members cook meals, put together care packages, stay overnight and do laundry for about 15 people who stay each night in the church?s basement, Wiggins said.
The church partnered with Beth Shalom congregation in Columbia, which is providing transportation from Columbia mall. The Hebrew school classes also are making lunch for the week, said executive director Martin Schwartz.
“Our congregation is very community-minded, and part of our Jewish value system is helping others,” Schwartz said.
The county partnered with Grassroots to get the effort started, providing mattresses and linens, Ingram said. County officials also help with transporting the supplies from one congregation to the next as they rotate.
Grassroots, which is relocating during construction of a new building, is providing support and consultation for the congregations, Ingram said. The center also provides staffing at each shelter every night, and funding for the effort comes from donations and some county money.
