Every Sunday night from Jan 20- March 10 (8 weeks) during rain, snow and at times single digit temperatures we had homeless guests spending the night in our Community room. Registration for these guests took place in a donated storefront on Chestnut St from 5-6 pm every night during this time.
Five churches and one Dance studio were involved, providing shelter for 6 nights a week. On the 7th night the RITI volunteers were still able to provide an hour of warmth, hot coffee and a nutritious hot meal. Another church in the community provided a place for hot showers and space for drop off donations during these 8 weeks.
At Union we had 2-12 guests, both male and female, staying on Sunday nights from 6 pm till 7 am; dinner and breakfast were served and all were given sack lunches for the day. All the guests were picked up at registration Sunday evening and were driven back in the morning. Clean clothing, bedding and toiletries were provided as needed. We had over 58 volunteers helping at Union with various tasks, without which RITI couldn’t have happened!
These tasks ranged from setting up of the space, meal cooking, being present for the guests, clean up at night, Inn keepers who spent the night, clean up in the morning, driver to and from registration, people donating clothing and other supplies, and organizing, picking up mattresses, gathering everything up – all that was needed in the beginning to just get it going on that first night!
A computer volunteer at the library helped with spread sheets, and last but not least volunteers washed and dried all the bedding each week. Berea College donated mattresses and offered an Inn place one very cold night for the guests when there was nowhere else available. Berea Police provided a constant presence to secure everyone’s safety. Then volunteers pulled it together after the program was over to provide for 3 more freezing nights of warmth, hot meals and a place to stay with the white flag program. Everyone went above and beyond to make this work!
Overall, the RITI program offered beds 268 times, and provided more than 600 dinners, 350 breakfasts, 250 sack lunches and 30 showers for 30 homeless guests during the two coldest months of the winter. It took many, many willing volunteers but we pulled it off and it was a success! Thank you again to all who helped out.
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