| NEWS | Glen Mar UMC provides shelter | | Homelessness in Howard County has risen 25 percent in one year. That fact, noticed by the Rev. Mary Dennis of Glen Mar UMC in Ellicott City, sparked her to action. I was motivated to be part of the solution, she said. Churches do this ministry in Laurel, why cant we? Dennis communicated to church members the need, and in days people came forward to donate food, make preparations and provide transportation. What used to be the churchs parsonage, located across the street from the church, was turned into a temporary homeless shelter, housing 20 people. The shelter ran Jan. 18 for two weeks. Guests would arrive at 6 p.m. for dinner, cooked by church volunteers. At 7 a.m., the homeless were taken back to Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, which operates a shelter in the Baltimore area. We had no budget, this was totally unexpected, Dennis said. This is a God thing. Her advice for other churches about homeless shelter ministry? Just go for it, she said. It is the right thing to do. Erik Alsgaard | | UM churches open doors for homeless By David E. Bohnert UMConnection Correspondent  Happy chatter filled the room as homeless adults, unsupervised street children, older and younger members of the church and indigents gathered in the fellowship hall of Trinity UMC in aMartinsburg, W.Va., to share a simple meal of hot dogs, baked beans, potatoes, soup and a dessert.
Andr, who told of living in several different cities, enjoyed the meal and participated in the worship service afterward. An atmosphere of concern and fellowship was evident throughout the evening. Especially poignant were the feelings evoked when a participant requested that the song, America the Beautiful, be sung. Some found it difficult to sing as they recognized the plight of the homeless and the less fortunate who cannot reach the ideals expressed in the song. The Monday evening program began eight years ago as a way to provide an alternative worship service for parishioners. The hope was to provide a unique worship service to attract younger people, according to the Rev. G. Edward Grove. However, he said, street people, both adults and children, found it and began attending along with many older people from the church, some of whom were widowed and eating alone at home. Known as 6:34, a reference in Matthew, Mark and Luke that details Christs admonition to care for the poor and less fortunate, the program begins at 5:30 p.m. with a meal. Afterwards, Grove leads an informal meditation and a prayer time. His wife Marybeth Grove is the song leader. After the worship service ends at 7 p.m., the Rev. Jack Vineyard, a conference pastor who lives nearby, conducts a survey of the Old Testament. Attendance averages between 70 and 85, including nearly 20 unsupervised street children, Grove said. A freewill offering is taken to help support the program. Trinity has hired an intern, Karen Banks, to arrange for the meals and to teach the children who attend. Banks herself is a former street person who is now off the street and living in her own home, Grove said. It is amazing what the project has done for the image of the church members of themselves, Grove said. The church had not touched the community around it, and the 6:34 project has brought the churchs mission to light. Martinsburg is the fastest growing area in West Virginia, according to Grove. He said that the Berkeley County school system builds a new school each year to accommodate a growing population, and unemployment is only 4 percent. Yet homelessness is a growing problem in the area, he said. In Hagerstown, 23 miles to the northeast, churches take turns providing shelters for the homeless for a two or three week period, according to the Rev. Robert S. Barton, pastor of Grace UMC. An ecumenical partnership, the Religious Effort to Assist and Care for the Homeless (REACH), administers the rotating church program. Grace hosted an average of 45 people each night December 14-28, said Bartons wife, Carol Barton, who reported that homelessness is a serious problem in the area. Three prisons in the area release prisoners who find it difficult to find employment and homes, she added. A former shoe factory, a five or six-story building, was recently given to a downtown church, Robert Barton said. The building has been rehabilitated and part of it will be provided to REACH for a homeless shelter. REACH will be able to add a daytime homeless program when the new facility is opened late this year, he said. The working poor population in the Hagerstown area has grown, which reflects a national trend, Barton said. Hagertowns Trinity UMC member Linn Davison works with REACH, which started the homeless shelter program in 1996. The number of people requiring services has gone beyond the means of the churches, and he is looking forward to the move to the permanent facility, Davison said. The REACH shelter program is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. from October until the first week of April. The shelter program is for adult men and women and couples. If families with young children need services, REACH will find shelter for them in hotels. The shelter is a great gift from God, Davidson said. It gives people a warm place to go with plenty of food where people wont be judged but accepted and loved for who they are. |
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