CHRISTNET SERVICES
ChristNet Center
25275 Eureka Rd., Taylor, MI 48180
Tel: 734-442-7032
www.christnetservices.org
A Community Ministry Supported by St. Paul United Church of Christ, Taylor
ChristNet Opens New Day Center
Bringing to fruition ten years of planning and hard work, the new ChristNet Services Daytime Center open house was held, Sunday August 28, 2022. The ChristNet homeless shelter new daytime center at 25275 Eureka Rd., Taylor, MI is fully equipped to provide critical services to homeless men, women, and children in the Downriver, Dearborn, and Out-Wayne Communities. The new facility includes a commercial kitchen for meal preparation, meeting and educational space, showers, plus washers and dryers for the laundering of guest clothes. Guests will have computer access now essential in securing identification and applying for employment and housing. The new daytime center provides an important and attractive respite from the streets for those struggling to secure housing. The ChristNet daytime center, which has until now been renting cramped space in a church basement, will work in partnership with the Wayne Metro Community Action Agency that has been hoteling up to 20 guests at night in the absence of ChristNet regular rotation church-based shelter program which is on pause due to the impact of Covid on church operations.
A well-attended Open House for churches supporting ChristNet was held on Sunday, August 28. An official ribbon-cutting for the new building was hosted on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, with Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and other community dignitaries present. ChristNet has been providing emergency homeless services for the past three decades. It was launched largely through the efforts of our St. Paul congregation and a handful of other churches recruited for a pilot project extending overnight shelter to those in need. St Paul members regularly contribute to ChristNet as a local mission project.
What is ChristNet?
ChristNet is an emergency nighttime 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 May, guests enrolling in the ChristNet Sevices receive a warm, safe place to stay overnight, plus three meals provided by one of more than forty-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.
How Did ChristNet Get Started?
The ChristNet Shelter is an outgrowth of a community forum convened by Rev. Dr. 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. In the years since, more churches have become affiliated with ChristNet, allowing us to increase the length of our season. Each season we are now able to provide approximately 33 weeks of overnight shelter to those in need from mid October into May. ChristNet is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization with an elected board of directors representative of its many participating churches. In recognition of his founding role, Pastor Drutchas is a ‘life’ member of the Board of Director. St Paul members regularly contribute to ChristNet as a local mission project.
How Can I Get Involved?
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 out 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 at 313-291-1221.