Shelter Listings
If you are like most caring people, you’ve been in this situation. It’s cold or raining, and you see a person in need. They may be on the corner or in a makeshift camp by the road. Maybe they called your church asking for help. Their situation is serious, but your resources are limited. What do you do?
While we affirm hospitality, we don’t recommend taking someone in without some vetting through an organization that can affirm that you will be helping the person rather than unnecessarily putting yourself or your family at risk. As everyone who has tried knows, providing shelter is more complicated than it may seem.
So, what do you do? As you know, Hope Farm has a long-term plan to house our friends, but our community is a few years from a reality. And, our plan is to provide long-term housing, not just emergency refuge.
It helps to have a list of contacts, places you can refer your new friends. Whatever city you are in, we recommend checking shelterlistings.org. They provide listings for multiple cities in multiple states across the USA. However, if you are in the Akron area, you can go directly to their Akron listing. (Other than Family Promise which is closed, this list should be accurate.)
Having a list of emergency shelters and resource providers not only allows you to provide immediate help, it allows you to bring your new friend into a wider support network. Think about how your network of friends and family helps you out. You borrow tools from your neighbor. Your friend helped you get the job you are in. Your sister watches the kids when you can’t get a babysitter. Your church covered your mortgage when you were laid off. None of us are fully self-sufficient. We all have a support network of some kind.
Your new friends without homes are no different. They probably have some kind of support network now. What they need is help expanding their connections, help getting them to that next step. That usually means leaving one support network for another. That’s scary. Your job might be to function as the link between their current support network and a future one. Be as consistent as you can. Help make connections. Follow up when you can. But, if all you do is get them connected to a safe place to stay tonight, that might be all they need for now.
Whatever you do, pray and look for an opportunity to share the hope you have in Christ.
