“A Lifesaving Place”


Warming Station provides homeless with shelter during winter nights


BY GARY MILLSPAUGH, OUTREACH COORDINATOR OF EVERLASTING LIFE MINISTRIES, AND JANE DAVENPORT, FPCA ELDER FOR MISSION


Where do the homeless stay when it gets cold?


Our church continues to help the Allentown community find an answer. Tis winter, Everlasting Life Ministries is operating an overnight shelter called the Warming Station. It is located at Fountain Park, 1000 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Allentown, in the former pool house.


By mid-December, more than 100 homeless men, women, and children already had used the Warming Station. Two families were among those. Christiana, age 2 (above), and her two parents were sheltered on November 22. Less than a week later, a family of five checked in with two girls, ages 6 and 2, and a boy just 2 months old.


Te estimated budget for the Warming Station is $87,000 for the expected 165 days of operations, about $14 per bed per night. Funding support comes from


the City of Allentown, Lehigh County, local churches and businesses, including a recent large gift of $13,100 from First Presbyterian Allentown. Our church’s gift represents the proceeds of the August 2016 charity golf tournament


organized by FPCA members.


Te 38-bed Warming Station began operating in November and will continue through April. It operates seven days a week, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Tere are 16 beds for men, 16 for women and six flex beds. At least one paid, experienced staff person, called a monitor, is on duty at all times. Volunteers help on-site from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. Everyone is guided by a policies and procedures handbook.


Guests are checked in starting at 7 p.m. For their first-time visit, an intake will be done where guests provide personal information, including health and


HOW TO HELP


If you are interested in volunteering at the Warming Station or making snack bags, call Gary Millspaugh at 610-737-6870.


If you’re interested in volunteering at the breakfast ministries, call Zion UCC at 610-435-2412 and ask for Virginia Schlegel, Jubilee Breakfast Ministry coordinator.


Financial donations can be dropped off at the church office or mailed to First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, 3231 Tilghman Street, Allentown, PA 18104. Checks should be made out to the church with “Warming Station” or “Homeless Breakfasts” in the memo line.


medication and agency affiliations. ID is requested but not required for entry.


Guests receive the following basic accommodations:


• A heated, dry, and safe overnight refuge from the cold weather


• A clean, dry bunk with blankets (no linens)


• Bathroom and shower facilities


• Referrals to human service agencies in the area


• On-site visits from various human service agencies, including health


care professionals.


No meals are served at the Warming Station, but snack packs are provided to the guests when they leave each morning—225 snack packs per week are needed. Also, a few downtown congregations offer free hot breakfasts at their churches, including Zion’s Liberty Bell UCC, 620 Hamilton St., and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 38 S. Eighth St., off Hamilton.


Te Warming Station is a place of last refuge for homeless people in Allentown. With life-threatening cold and limited shelter beds, the staff and volunteers face many challenges. Even in the first month of operation, they were forced to turn away guests for lack of beds. FPCA continues to offer support in many ways—through volunteers, financial contributions to the Warming Station and breakfast programs, and the provision of snack packs. Te goal is to provide compassion, shelter with dignity, and a lifesaving place to call home, if only for one night at a time.


• A personal care/hygiene kit and towel


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