There is a place at First Presbyterian that some women call home.  It is our Women’s Shelter. 
Here, they find a warm bed, a warm meal and warm hearts to care. 
It is a transitional shelter available for up to 6 months.  As a guest here they have access to everything our church has to offer.  This includes help from Project Connect, our excellent counseling services and - of course,  some of the best pastoral care available anywhere.  We also try to provide some occasional fun in the form of concerts, plays and various other outings.

Are you feeling particularly blessed lately and looking for a gratifying way to help someone less fortunate
than yourself?  Our shelter may be your answer.  If you are looking for a way to become involved as a family –
there is plenty of room for the everyone at the shelter.

The lifeblood of our shelter are the volunteers.  There are various ways to help out – depending your availability.  We need stay volunteers to spend the night as well as food volunteers to provide the evening meal.                       Or perhaps your schedule is such that you would prefer to be a backup stay volunteer and only be called when someone else has to cancel. 
We also have coordinators – these people make sure everyone else shows up when they are supposed to!

Stay Volunteer
Stay volunteers spend the night at the shelter.  You have the option to volunteer alone, or if that
isn’t your idea of fun ( it isn’t mine ) there will be a second volunteer to help. 
As a volunteer you will provide laundry duty, dishwasher duty and – of course,  an ear just to listen. 
You show up around 7 o’clock in the evening.  Once there you help set out the evening meal
(some excellent homemade dishes and desserts) and serve.  A prayer is offered once all are seated around
the dining table ( a requirement whether you eat or not ).  Don’t worry – there is a book of paryers on
the table in case you’re a little shy.  There are usually lively conversations with the guests as well as staff.  And the volunteers can always entertain each other when everyone else is too busy or too tired to hang out. 
At 10:00 it’s lights out since everyone has to be up at 5:30 the next morning.  This allows plenty of
time for volunteers to shower and dress for work.  But don’t forget to make the coffee first! 
The guests must be out of the shelter by 6:30 – which should get just about anyone to work on time.

Backup Stay Volunteer
Same as stay volunteer except you won’t know you’re coming until it’s time to be there.  Great for
people with very flexible schedules.