“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)
God continues to show us new things He wants to do for homeless men, women and children at Christian Shelter. As we have seen growing numbers of broken or hurting families with children coming into the Shelter, God has opened new pathways of ministry to them.
For example, a local foundation known as The Women’s Fund, working with the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, is providing financial assistance for the development of a Family Respite Program. A former derelict storage area in the Shelter is now being renovated and equipped for special use as a respite room for Shelter mothers and their children to get a break from the weather after being out searching for jobs, housing and help for their families. The Respite Program will offer homeless mothers and their children a quiet, comfortable room with videos, books, Bibles, toys and games for parents and children, providing them a safe place to get in out of the weather during the daytime.
A further response to the increase in the number of children and young people in the Shelter is a plan, now well underway for a Youth Mentoring Program. The Board is currently seeking someone with educational leadership experience to develop and manage this program. The program would involve recruiting, training and directing volunteers to come along side of children and young people coming into the Shelter to give them one on one support, encouragement and guidance to help them overcome the challenges of homelessness and move forward with their lives.
“May the God of peace…equip (us) with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
