East Shore has just participated in our 26th year of serving homeless men at ESUC through Congregation for the Homeless (CFH). This program is part of the year-round rotating shelter program giving the men a safe place to sleep, obtain meals (including a hot dinner), laundry, showers, case managers and stability. Typically, every month, the men rotate to a different church on the Eastside. ESUC hosts the men in October.
Like most things in 2020 – things were much different this year! The 17-20 men occupied Spring Hall 24 hours a day/7 days a week. There was no physical contact between ESUC members and the men. CFH provided a full-time staff member to be with the men at all times. The men have been kept safe and healthy throughout the year.
ESUC provided cleaning material, toiletries, food for breakfast and lunch. The men were able to cook or choose from cereal, yogurt, protein bars, snacks, fresh fruit, etc. Several members of ESUC volunteered to deliver groceries and supplies to Spring Hall. Thank you! These items were provided by your pledge to ESUC or through generous donations of the shoppers. We are also very grateful to our partner, Bellevue Presbyterian Church, who delivered two deliveries of groceries to supplement breakfast and lunch.
Every night the men were provided a hot dinner – ready to go! For the first 15 days of the month, these dinners were provided by Redmond United Methodist Church. This was a new partnership for us. The second half of the month was provided by various members and groups of ESUC. We had two additional dinner contributors: Cheryl Jurrus from St Andrews Lutheran Church provided two meals. The Hyatt of Bellevue provides dinner the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, regardless of where the rotating shelter is located.
Additional thanks go to our ESUC staff – Dianne, Joseph and Celil for prep work on Spring Hall and being the “go to” for necessary facility items; Vanessa for helping keep the accounting squared away; Jason for helping pave the way to allow the men to stay 24/7; Rev. Steve for support and Nicole for publicity/technical support!
We also received monetary donations of $1,000 from Northlake Unitarian Church and $200 from Woodinville Unitarian Church.
As you can see – this is a big project. THANK YOU TO EACH AND EVERY ONE WHO WAS ABLE TO HELP IN SOME CAPACITY!
At the time of this writing, we are still in the midst of our ministry. A more detailed report will follow. Please know your kindness and generosity are so very much appreciated. The ministry team of Dean Dubofsky, Den Kerlee, Ralph Lutz, Peggy Phillips and Laura Rivendell could not have done this without each of you. If you would consider joining our ministry team for October of 2021, we would very much like to hear from you. The yearly commitment is quite limited to August and September (preparation) and October when the men are present. Many hands make light work and the work is so worthwhile! Dean Dubofsky ([email protected]) 425-495-3328, Den Kerlee ([email protected]) 206-619-5999 serve as co-chairs.
by Peggy Phillips