Restarting with Faith and Gratitude: St. Bart’s Winter Shelter

When Interfaith Shelter Network approached St. Bart’s about hosting the winter rotational shelter after many years, I wasn’t sure. Personally, I had never served at a church that hosted a shelter. While St. Bart’s was experienced with the rotational shelter, it was with the old parish hall – now long gone. How would we do this with what we have now? Do we have enough space? What about shower facilities, all those meals, and overnight chaperones?

When God calls us forward to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world, it sometimes means we will need to step out in faith, knowing that our needs will be provided. With this confidence and reassurance from our Facilities Manager, Mike Jewett, St. Bart’s said, “Yes, we will be hosts!”

As the two-week period approached, Mike and others went to work transforming our Multi-Purpose Room into a partitioned shelter. Using PVC piping, tablecloths, tarps, and banners, private sleeping areas were created in one morning. Next, Mike retrofitted our handicapped bathroom stalls into shower spaces. A social worker called his temporary modifications “ingenious!” Now with the infrastructure in place, what about the 14 days of meals and overnight chaperones? We sent the invitation out to our congregation and neighboring ones. We soon discovered that helpers came from all over!

Providers of dinners, continental breakfasts, bag lunches, and overnight chaperones included those from St. Bart’s and from other faith communities. We give thanks to the 15 volunteers from our church and to the kind parishioners from Grace San Marcos, Trinity Escondido, St. Tim’s, St. Mark’s, Temple Adat Shalom, and Poway Community Church. Together, we made it happen.

St Bart’s housed 5-10 guests for two weeks with hard work, ingenuity, and a lot of good friends. It was a joy to work together to support our sisters and brothers experiencing situational homelessness. We found the hospitality and fellowship to be generous and life-giving. The blessings flowed both ways as we were able to hear the guests’ stories and to join them in prayer for the granting of their needs.  One guest left us a card which read, “Thank you so much for all the genuine kindness you and all of the volunteers have shown me. I am forever grateful! May God bless all of you!!” 

St. Bart’s restarted the rotational shelter on campus with faith, and like our guest, we ended it with deep gratitude to all. With friends at our side, the Interfaith Shelter Network can count on St. Bart’s to sign up every winter.