Nancy Bracken and Dorothy Miller, they saw people living on the streets that thought we
have to do something about it.
So they set up the Interfaith Community Men's Shelter, which actually is a PADS program
that rotates through different church basements each night.
We will offer them food twice, we'll offer them dinner and a small breakfast.
People fall into homelessness and they fall out and it's not just people who have mental
or addiction issues, it's people who pay child support, they lose their job, they don't have
any income.
Some had poor paying jobs that didn't allow them to have a small apartment or a hood apartment.
I was introduced to Interfaith two years ago, I worked for a retail outlet, they had gotten
a letter from corporate saying they were going to have to lay a lot of employees off and
unfortunately I hadn't been there that long so I was on the low man on the totem pole.
We're actually filling a void that is needed in the community.
There is no emergency shelter for men and also for women.
In order to progress forward in life you have to have a base of operations and for people
living on the streets you can't get things done and that's why having a shelter is so
important.
I knew my situation was going to be temporary, it's just a temporary thing, you know I know
I cannot let this get me down.
They feel that they can come and talk to somebody, open up to somebody and that person might
be able to help them.
While I was in the program as a participant, this place, Salvation Army at the time had
lost a couple of their staff members to work the overnight shelter.
They came to me and asked me if I would mind working for them, I tell anybody don't be
afraid to take that stuff if you feel the need that you need to reach out to Interfaith
please reach out because it will be one of the greatest moves you can make.
The constant struggle is the struggle to find volunteers who are willing to put in a few
hours a week and actually the volunteers get a lot more out of it than they suspected
when they started because you have men who are relying on you and now it's going to
be men and women who are relying on you.
If I had to do it over again I'd do it in a heartbeat.
I have had so much fun, I have had learned so much, this is for everybody if you can
only volunteer for one night a month that's worth it.
It's all about giving back you know and that's why I feel that anybody should volunteer and
donate if you're able to donate, donate.
They could donate goods to us, we have a huge needs list of things that we normally purchase
that things that you can probably find in your pantry at home, they could donate funds
to us of course.
The Community Pads program now has evolved and Harrison's been great because he's getting
us into a 501C3 position as a corporation so that we can take more donations.
I see the difference in the community, I feel there is a difference happening and I feel
there's going to be more of a difference happening as time goes on.
There's always going to be a need for an emergency shelter in the community no matter if it's
30 people a night or if it's 4 people a night.
We would love to have permanent sites for men and for women moving into some type of
transitional housing and such but you know we're going to put the cart in front of the
horse here.
Right now we're just dealing with an emergency situation.
