The River Church Community

These are some of the ideas we are sorting through...

The Church and The Homeless


A Church Shelter Winter Rotation
In many cities of the United States churches have started church shelter rotations.  In Cupertino, for example, they have a system in which one church shelters homeless people for a month and then another church hosts the same group for another month.  It lasts all year.  In downtown, we do not have such a system.  We would like to consider what it would take for us, as a larger church community, to create one for the winter months (from Nov-Mar) in the downtown area.  It would require 5 churches that own their buildings to dedicate space in them for 30 days out of the year.  It would require a considerable amount of volunteer help, training and permit/zoning exploration.

A Church Locker Network
In conversations with the homeless, it is evident that they need a place to store their belongings.  We would like to consider creating a church locker network where downtown churches host 5-10 lockers for homeless with whom they have relational connections.  This would require an initial investment in lockers, volunteer help and contracts/policies to navigate the potential complications (i.e., the storing of illegal and smelly items.)

A Church Landlord and Mentoring Network
Many churches in the downtown area have members that are landlords.  It may be possible to network these landlords with homeless tenants.   This would help people who want to change their situation find shelter.  If this was combined with a mentoring program (budget, resume, job application training etc), it could be a robust way to address the needs of those who are willing to take serious steps to transform their lives.  The main complication would be to create a winnowing system that filters out potentially destructive or uncommitted tenants.

Creating a Network of Friends
The goal would be to equip volunteers to be effective advocates and friends to the homeless.  To do this effectively, we would need a training from the city to enable volunteers to work within the existing city system; and we would need a homeless/shelter eco-system map so that volunteers could connect the homeless to providers and be more helpful friends.  Though this would not expand the existing shelter infrastructure, it would help homeless individuals make the most of the resources that already exist.