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| Dave Howery, Executive Director CMC |
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| On January 15, 2003, InterServ partnered with St. Joseph’s Continuum of Care (COC) Homeless Services Coalition, the Open Door Food Kitchen, and members of the faith community to develop a plan for sheltering homeless men. The resulting Cold Weather Shelter, housed at the Open Door Food Kitchen, represented the initial step of the collaborative community efforts to address the unmet needs of chronic homeless men in St. Joseph. The two major priorities are:
1) Provide overnight shelter, food, showers and laundry services to homeless men each evening starting January through March and,
2) Identify the challenges that keep persons homeless, provide case management and coordination of social service agencies.
The 2003 Shelter was open 75 nights from January to March. In total, sixty-five (65) chronically homeless men stayed at the shelter. The success of the seasonal Cold Weather Shelter helped to gain the trust of the homeless population and exposed firsthand the plight of the chronic homeless. It became clear that a comprehensive and systematic approach to transition chronically homeless men from living on the streets to permanent housing was needed. This began the multi-year plan to address the homeless issues in St. Joe.
In January 2006 InterServ transferred operation of existing and future homeless programs to Community Missions Corporation (CMC), continuing the mission to serve chronically homeless men. Today, the CMC campus includes multiple facilities to provide shelter and help chronically homeless men with disabilities access the community support network.
As CMC took the leadership role in addressing homelessness, the existing Cold Weather Shelter housed at the Open Door Food Kitchen was moved to CMC owned property. This shelter, My Brothers House, is located at 6th and Olive. CMC will operate the Shelter in 2008 during the cold critical winter months of January through March from 5:00 pm to 7:00 am, seven days per week. Volunteers, churches, organizations and groups provide support services, including but not limited to, hot meals each night.
The Shelter was the first step in St. Joseph’s Strategy for handling Chronic Homelessness enhanced by Juda House which opened in December 2006 and finally a safe haven (St. Joseph’s Haven) anticipated by the winter of 2008. Once construction is complete, the safe haven will serve as a permanent extension of My Brother’s House by offering year round shelter and supportive services for chronically homeless men. Until then, the temporary shelter remains a critical resource in St. Joseph for chronically homeless men. |
