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By Shaun Lane
UMConnection Staff

She slept peacefully on the air mattress. The sounds around her barely caused her to shift positions.

Two-year-old Ariyanna's day begins at 8 a.m. and does not end until 6 p.m. She's tired from the grueling 10-hour routine, and her posture suggests that no one is going to disturb her from her rest.

Ariyanna is homeless. She spends the most of her day waiting at bus stops, going on job interviews with her parents, Ed and Alena Davis, and generally getting into mischief that is typical of most two-year-olds.

"As long as she's OK, we're OK," Alena said. "When the day is over, when we come here, we're safe."

"Here" is the Night of Peace Family Shelter, located in the basement of Salem UMC in Windsor Mill, on the outskirts of Baltimore. Night of Peace is the only overnight shelter in Baltimore County that is located in a church.

It is a unique example of connectionalism in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. The shelter is located at Salem UMC, but it receives volunteers and other resources from neighboring churches, including Epworth, Millford Mill, Glyndon and West Baltimore United Methodist churches.

The Rev. Colin Phillips, pastor at Salem UMC, developed a plan for a shelter as soon as he was appointed to the church in July 2003.

Phillips is a licensed clinical counselor in mental health. His passion for the homeless started when he worked in the Harford County jail system, doing mental health evaluations of inmates and trying to find housing for them upon their release.

"I found out how pervasive the homeless situation is in the area," he said. "When I came to Salem in 2003 I was determined to do something to fight homelessness. I saw the basement of the church and thought it would make an ideal shelter,"

In the winter of 2005, Phillips started a shelter in the church that was open two nights a week. It is now open seven nights a week, 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. It opens at 4 p.m. during the school year. His goal is to have it open 24 hours a day.

"I believe that mission starts in your community," Phillips said. "This is what church is about. This gives our church more meaning, a niche in our community. In Luke 4, Jesus essentially talks about helping people who have less than you. We are putting into practice what he has commanded us to do."

Night of Peace has a capacity of 28 people. Each family sleeps in a cubicle, which holds two to three people. There is a curtain across each cubicle entrance for added privacy and each has a dresser in which to store personal belongings.

The cubicles were built by Salem trustee Bruce Kopp. A local builder donated manpower and money to build a full bathroom. The rear of the shelter has a play area for the children that live there and the front of the shelter has a television. It also has a large kitchen to prepare meals.

County funding and gifts have allowed Phillips to hire an executive director, as well as four part-time employees.

The shelter's goal is to prepare each family to be able to care for themselves. Most families stay an average of two months.

"The adults staying here go through an intense program so they can transition from here to permanent housing," Phillips said. "At the same time, we provide them with a lot of TLC. Here, they are safe and secure."

A 16-year-old girl, expecting a child in December, says the safety and care is what she and her family are thankful for at the shelter. She has been at Night of Peace for about two months and says she has been using the time to find a job and hopes to begin working on her G.E.D.

"Life has been really hard for us, but I don't even want to think of how much tougher it would be if we weren't staying here," she said. "No one plans to be in a situation like this. But if it happens, it's good to know that places like this will welcome you.

"To be honest, I don't feel too good about the future. I have a baby coming soon and I have no high school

diploma. But I'm still going to hold on to my dreams. I want to go to college and become a nurse. I'm still young enough to make it happen. That's one of the best things about here - no one judges you. Even though things are down, they still believe in you."

It's the faith that other people have in you, Alena said, that gives her faith in herself and her husband. Alena and Ed met in February 2008 and got married in April. Before coming to Night of Peace, they and their daughter were staying with a relative. But that relative, Alena's cousin, passed away soon after they moved in, putting them back on the streets.

"I must have called a hundred shelters before Night of Peace came through," she said. "We had less than 24 hours to find housing, and this was the only place that would take us as a family.

"This place has given us everything we needed, food, clothes, toiletries. It's not better than having your own place, but at least we can stay together as a family."

Phillips said its biggest hurdle to keeping families together at Night of Peace is funding, adding that they need approximately $40,000 more this year to avoid a deficit.

"We are always in need," he said. "In addition to the grants we receive, there are still energy bills, insurance and food bills. Insurance is very high because we are working with a risky population. But we'll keep going, raising additional funds whenever we can."

Ed said that one day, when his family is secure, he will give back to the place that has helped him.

"I'll never forget where I came from or who helped me when I was down," he said. "My family needed help and Night of Peace came through. If it wasn't for here, I would have probably been sleeping on a park bench."