Our Outreach The ChristNet Emergency Shelter
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ChristNet Shelter
Night-time Intake & Daytime Warming Center A Community Ministry Supported by St. Paul United Church of Christ, Taylor
Where do our homeless go on a cold winter night? They come to our church and others like it through ChristNet.
ChristNet is an emergency nightime shelter and daytime warming center for men, women, and children, co-founded and supported by St. Paul United Church of Christ. The goal of ChristNet is to insure that no one is left out in the cold. Each night from October to June, guests enrolling in the ChristNet Shelter receive a warm, safe place to stay overnight, plus three meals provided by one of more than thirty-five churches hosting week-by-week on a rotational basis. Other guest needs are also addressed, matching guests with services that can help them move to more stable and secure lives.
Guests in need of emergency shelter enroll reach night from 7-8 p.m. at the ChristNet intake center located at West Mound United Methodist Church directly across from the Southland Mall on Eureka Road in Taylor. Up to thirty enrolled guests depart from the intake center to a host church via ChristNet van. A hot supper is served. Male and female guests are accommodated in separate sleeping areas using light mattresses and linens transported among the participating churches. After breakfast, guests receive a brown bag lunch to go and are then transported by the ChristNet van to the daytime warming center where they connect with special services or board a metro bus for access to other educational programs, jobs, and families. Throughout the year, homeless men, women, and children can make use of the daytime warming center across from the Southland Shopping Center in Taylor. Besides providing a place of refuge, the goal of ChristNet is to match guests with available services which can help them move towards more stable and secure lives.”
The ChristNet Shelter is an outgrowth of a community forum convened by St. Paul United Church pastor Geoffrey Drutchas and the Rev. Hal Weemhof from West Mound United Methodist Church in September 1992. Thereafter, Pastor Drutchas and Joan Forest, a parish administrator from nearby St. Cyril of Jerusalem Roman Catholic Church, shepherded the ChristNet ministry through its early developmental phases. Pastor Drutchas served as ChristNet president/executive director during its first decade of operation as it expanded from an eight week/ eight church pilot project to a ministry that now extends over eight months and engages the support of more than fifty-five downriver congregations. ChristNet is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization with an elected board of directors representative of its many participating churches. St. Paul United Church of Christ continues to serve as ChristNet’s administrative headquarters. In recognition of his founding role, Pastor Drutchas is a ‘life’ member of the Board of Director. Other members of St. Paul United Church serve as current treasurer and transportation coordinator. Some of the original equipment purchased for ChristNet through $1000 start-up gift given by the St. Paul Youth Fellowship is still in use. St Paul members regularly contribute to ChristNet as a local mission project.
Our St. Paul congregation hosts the ChristNet Emergency Shelter every October. Over a 100 volunteers are needed to welcome guests for our rotational week. Food preparation, overnight hosting, laundering of linens, and transportation of bedding and supplies to the next hosting church are commitments that our church volunteers take on in efforts to combat homelessness. Financial donations for our host week and the ChristNet ministry overall are also welcomed. In mid-to-late September the call goes our for rotational week volunteers. Please keep an eye open for sign-up rosters in the church narthex just outside the sanctuary. For information about volunteering on behalf of ChristNet at other times of the year, please call the church office (313-291-1221).
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