The Interfaith Hospitality Network was created to provide shelter, meals, and comprehensive support to families without homes

December 10, 2002

To the Vestry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide you with pre-reading for the December Vestry meeting about a new, proposed outreach program that we believe will win-over the hearts of every parishioner at St. Paul’s as well as provide a spiritual plank for the Rochester community.

Desired Outcome:

At the Vestry meeting on December 17^th, we will be asking for St. Paul’s commitment for the start-up and ongoing operation of the St. Paul’s partnership in the Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (RAIHN).

What is this program?

To date, St. Paul’s Church has graciously donated $15,000 towards the foundation of a non-profit organization in the Rochester Area. The charter of RAIHN is to provide shelter, meals, and support to families, temporarily without homes. The Rochester organization is part of the National Interfaith Hospitality network. The next step in the program, and the request before the vestry, is to allow St. Paul’s Church to become one of the 13 shelters in the network.

What specifically are you asking?

The RAIHN organization has identified St. Paul’s Episcopal Church as one of the few church buildings in the Rochester area that has the facilities to provide shelter to the homeless families as part of the overall outreach program:

We are seeking the Vestry’s approval to use the church facilities to participate as one of the 13 Rochester shelters for 2003-2004, starting in September 2003.
We are seeking the Vestry’s approval to solicit volunteers from the parish to staff the support shelter for from September 2003 to March 2005.
We are seeking the vestry’s approval and commitment to sign the RAIHN covenant and seek operating funds of $2,000 per year from the Mission I funding. See detail on attached pages.

If approved, what is actually involved?

As one of 13 churches in the RAIHN organization, a small portion of the St. Paul’s Church facility will be made available four (4) times per year for one week each quarter to shelter three to five homeless FAMILIES (not individuals). The maximum is 14 people per week’s session.

The RAIHN team as well as our own coordinators have identified the St. Paul’s Sunday School facility as the ideal spot in which to run this outreach program. We plan to coordinate with the Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network on actual day-to-day operation and management of this outreach program. Responsibilities fall into two categories; what the RAIHN organization provides and what the parishioners of St. Paul’s Church provide. A list of some of these tasks are shown on the next page.

What does St. Paul’s Church do?

The following list illustrates some of the items that would fall under the auspices of the St. Paul’s IHN coordinators:

Creation of a master outreach coordinator for the program. Two parishioners, Gayle and Doug Hitchcock (that’s us!) have volunteered to manage the program
Doug & Gayle will oversee the scheduling of the volunteers to “man” the facility during the needed times. This amounts to 42 “shifts” per weekly outreach comprised of two people per shift with three shifts per day (dinner/evening, overnight, and morning/breakfast). We already have commitments from quite a few parishioners who want to be “day captains” and volunteers for this program.
We will also oversee all the training of the volunteer staff
Oversee all relationships with the RAIHN organization as well as other churches and shelters involved in the program
Ensure that the St. Paul’s facility is “up to snuff” in order to house the homeless families for the weekly periods. This includes ensuring the facility itself meets all codes, safety regulations and precautionary “house rules” that we will establish. Many of these practices are well-known from other national IHN groups and are easily manageable
Ensure that the needs of the Sunday School organization are exceeded! Plans include stowage and off-limits areas for the Sunday School property, clean-up at end of week and better understanding of the IHN program with the Sunday School Staff under Ed Hunt.
Ensure the needs of the church sexton are met. Details include how IHN will use kitchen and food-prep areas, use of basement showers (if needed; need refurbishment), building security, fire egress, etc.
Oversee the day-to-day scheduling of the families and their transport to and from the day center; which is provided by RAIHN
Providing a written status of the outreach program to the Vestry once per quarter after each weekly stay

What does the Rochester RAIHN do?

The following list illustrates some of the items that would fall under the auspices of the Rochester Area IHN organization and its directorship:

RAIHN organization will train the St. Paul’s program coordinators
RAIHN manages the sheltered family’s transportation to and from the day center
RAIHN does all the logistics and management of the beds and common items which are moved weekly from shelter-to-shelter weekly every Sunday afternoon.
RAIHN does the pre-screening of the eligible families to ensure needful and wanted participation in the program. This includes screening-out families with known drug/alcohol usage, contagious diseases, or criminal records.
RAIHN provides statistics on homeless families and placements within the shelters participating in the RAIHN program.
RAIHN provides the day center facility and ongoing intensive case management of guests.

Can you give me some background on the regional and National Interfaith Hospitality network?

The Interfaith Hospitality Network was created to provide shelter, meals, and comprehensive support to families without homes. Founded in New Jersey in 1986, IHN programs are now found in most states across the country, with more than 80,000 volunteers contributing their gifts of time and talent.

The Network program unites communities of faith in a collaborative effort to assist homeless families. Eight to thirteen "host" congregations provide accommodations and meals for three to five families (up to 14 people), for one week each two to three months on a rotating schedule. Community agencies assess homeless families and refer them to the Network. Volunteers at the congregations provide meals and support services. A central day center is provided by a Y, downtown church, or other community facility. Each Network also employs a Director who manages the program and works intensively with the families as they seek housing, jobs and other resources.

Participating congregations provide the sleeping accommodations and a "hospitality room" where guests relax, socialize, do homework, or watch television. The local organization (the RAIHN in Rochester) provides the transportation, bedding, and master logistics. Guests arrive at the host congregation at 5:30 pm and remain overnight. The host congregation provides the evening meal, breakfast, and a bag lunch. In the morning, guests return to the day center. From there, children go to school and adult guests go to work or look for housing.

Volunteers in the IHN program provide homeless families with basic human needs: shelter, safety, and sustenance with a spirit of warmth and hospitality. Congregations become temporary homes in which families are treated as guests and individuals are accepted as they are. In this environment, guests are able to maintain their dignity. The kindness of hosts helps to diminish the hurt of homelessness, and both volunteers and guests grow and learn from each other.