Well, it’s been 6 incredible months since I began working here in July, five months since we opened our doors in August and I have never been more happy and content to come to work every day and do my small part to make a difference in our community. The Lord is truly blessing ME and my life as I do His will.
We all have our own ideas of how our actions can make an impact on our community, but little did I realize that by my willingness to follow His call I would find a greater happiness amid the stress of life than I had previously known. I would encourage all of you to find a cause that YOU are passionate about, look for a way you can help, whether that’s donations of time, food, materials, expertise, supplies, or money and BE the change you want to see in your community.
Here are some year-end numbers from the shelter that I would like to share with you.
2010 Summary:
- We have received 43 calls from people looking for shelter
- We have had 27 residents.
- We have provided 692 nights of shelter
- 46% male residents representing 315 shelter nights
- 54% female residents representing 377 shelter nights
- 74% of our residents are from Forest County
Here are some of the details of this report:
| Services Provided | Male | Female | Families | Total # | |
| Calls | 11 | 11 | 21 | 43 | |
| Walk-ins | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Applications | 9 | 5 | 3 | 17 | |
| Check-outs | 5 | 4 | 0 | 9 | |
| Check-outs Placed Job/Apartment | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 77% |
| Walk-outs/Incomplete Program | 2 | 0 | 1(7) | 9 | |
| Total Check-Outs | 7 | 4 | 1(7) | 18 | |
| Total In-House as of 12/31 | 2 | 1 | 2(6) | 9 | |
| Total Residents | 9 | 5 | 3(13) | 27 | |
| Sheltered Nights | 315 | 377 | 692 | ||
| Forest County Residents | 20 | 74% | |||
| Non-Forest County Residents | 7 | 26% | |||
| Transportation Miles | 1971 |
We are averaging about 4.5 shelter nights per day.
The average length of stay per resident is about 34 days.
In the past five months we have helped 5 people with emergency short term stays as they were passing through our area.
We have helped find stable employment for 4 people, stable housing for 13 people.
23 people or 85% of our residents have received case management services.
In the months of Sept., Oct., and Dec. we were at maximum capacity with 12, 10, and 9 people here at one time. While we have beds to sleep 14, the empty beds were generally on the mens side, which meant we had to turn away any women or families with children looking for shelter.
In September we had to start a waiting list with 6 requests for shelter, representing approx. 25 people. By the time we had room most had moved on or were otherwise unreachable.
Currently (as of Jan. 12th) we have 10 residents in-house with one of those checking out and going to college next week.
In the past five months volunteers have logged over 1100 hours of service helping keep the shelter up and running (and I am VERY thankful for their assistance) I am especially thankful for Kathy Clark who is here 7 hours a day, five days a week, to help with clerical and reception duties. The Lord has continued to bless us to do His work and I am very thankful to be given to opportunity to help meet the very real need in our community.
We are making some headway in the fundraising department though at times it feels overwhelming. We have received many donations this December both to help out with Christmas and as year-end contributions. We applied for and were granted an award from the State Shelter Subsidy Grant program in the amount of $1,849.00, which comprises about 4% of our annual budget. We currently have funds to continue operations through approximately July/August. There are two more grants that we are preparing to apply for in the coming months that may help us meet a portion of our budget requirements for the rest of this year. Please join us in praise and in prayer about our finances for the rest of this year.
Thanks to those of you who found our Paypal DONATE button! Your contributions are helping meet a real need for men, women, and children here in our community. Any gifts, whether they are monetary or donated items, will receive a tax deductible receipt upon request.
Thank you for stopping by to visit us! If you have any questions I’d love to talk to you, feel free to email or call.
In His service,
Micah Dewing
Director