Real Life at the Crisis Shelter January 27-February 4, 2012

Real Life at the Shelter January 27-February 4, 2012. 

Monday January 30:   One of the ladies who had been asked to leave last weekend came to use our overflow.  Overflow officially starts at 10:00pm.  She showed up at 8:35 pm.  The class that was in the

Gathering Place

(Where overflow is) was running late so the overflow was not yet available.  The guest kept ringing the bell and demanding to be let in early.  While staff can do this when nothing else is going on, most nights we do hold to the 10:00 pm start time.  She was told that if she rang the bell again she would not be able to use overflow.  She went and hid out behind the shuttles.  A short while later when a guest who is eligible for regular guest stay showed up; she was harassed and told by the former guest that if she rang the bell she would get in trouble.   This new guest had called and was therefore a bit confused and told the lady hiding behind the shuttle that she had called.  That was when the former guest asked if she can ring the bell for her.  This former guest was ultimately put on the no overflow list.

Tuesday January 31:   Two other ladies were put on the overflow list after they continued to be disrespectful to the Good Workers (guests who take care of the shelter overnight).  They had done this on several occasions and staff had talked with each of them on different nights.  They are all welcome to meet with staff to see if they can have services restored.  Our guest who had experienced date rape last week finally talked with the police.  Major event tonight.  The shelter experienced its first Flash Mob in the parking lot.     http://youtu.be/zBQkH1VYucw  View the link to see the event take place.

Wednesday February 1:   One of our guests who we later discovered had escaped from a residential facility (Not dangerous for us but she needed more care than we usually provide.) was creating a concern among her room mates.  Some were unwilling to show her grace and this gave us many opportunities to share God’s Grace with them.  We had an incident with the green shuttle.  The gas pedal stuck to the floor but with great strength one of our volunteers pushed the brake hard enough to get the shuttle to stop and then pried the gas pedal up.  The shuttle was then dead on East Sprague and the ladies walked a couple of blocks back to the shelter instead of going to Family of Faith that night.  The only tears were from a group of kids who could not make it to church that night.  In my book the volunteer was a hero who kept his head.  Great job!  The shuttle was towed around the corner and awaits repairs.

Thursday February 2:   Staff had an accountability meeting with the young lady from Monday night.  It was decided to give her grace and let her stay at the shelter today.  Many of our guests are really seeking God right now.  Pray for them.  One of our guest who has a very negative attitude has created a hostile environment in her room.  She does not see herself as negative but honest.    Staff had a late accountability meeting for a former guest, she too was given another shot at staying at the shelter.

Friday February 3:    Quiet day with the exception of some guests missing items when they came to pick them up. 

Weekend:   Overall fairly quiet weekend.  Many have found housing and should be moving over the next few days.          

General comments:   Three different ladies all report to seeing an angel in one of the rooms.  All three are starting to seek God as a result.  Our new policy of all belongings to be in a tub and a crate makes packing them up much easier.  We are also having many challenges when ladies show up 5 days later looking for items that they left behind.  (Our policy says that we hold items left behind for 3 days.)