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91 June Street, Worcester, MA 01602
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The Interfaith Hospitality Network Mission
Working in partnership with its member religious congregations, the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Worcester (IHN) promotes self-sufficiency by providing temporary shelter, meals, and housing advocacy services to homeless families with children regardless of income and family structure.
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Giving Tuesday's are Back!
Help a homeless family in need! Check out https://www.ihnworcester.org/givingtuesday2021.
If you're fortunate enough to have a roof over your head, you're in a better position than the almost 18,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given day in Massachusetts! -
Volunteers Needed!!
Greetings,
We are seeking help for three weeks in December where Temple Emanuel Sanai usually would host. They are unable to provide volunteers this year. We are asking for help and because it is three weeks in a row, we figured we would get this notice out sooner. We can not express how grateful we are for our pool of emergency volunteers for situations like this. Without you, none of this would be possible. Please use the signup link below if you can help. Covering even ONE spot helps!
https://www.signupgenius.com/
go/10C0D45AAAD2FA3F9C16- volunteer2 THANK YOU!!
91 June St. Worcester, MA 01602
Telephone: 508-755-2212
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Dear Member Congregations, Charter Board Members, Friends,We are reaching out to ask you to spread the word far and wide about our wonderful IHN Team Opportunities! Besides being a great way to volunteer together in a casual way with like-minded individuals from around the area, these teams are a necessary component to our program. We are in the business of supporting those families among us who find themselves without a place to lay their heads at night. The homeless issue is not going away soon, but the advocacy for these families is alive and strong within our program.
- House Team - Help us maintain our beautiful shelter, even if it's simply to reset a room after a family moves out, or put up a shelf, or organize a closet.
- Fundraising and Events Team - Help us raise funds to support our program through fun and exciting events like Trivia Nights, Walks, Galas, Auctions, Holiday Appeal Mailings. Can you secure donors? Write a grant? Get some in-kind donations for the shelter? Many hands make light (and FUN) work!
- Congregation and Volunteer Recruitment Team - Your neighbor may attend a church or be part of a group who would love to partner with another church or group to cover a volunteer week. Help us to recruit these people. Evening and overnight volunteers are what makes IHN a unique and special program for our guest families. Help us keep this important tradition alive.
- PR and Advertising Team - Website skills? Know your way around social media? Are you a graphic designer? Do you love to be in the limelight talking about something you're passionate about? Our PR and Advertising team needs a person like you!
Please let us know if you have an interest in being a part of our mission! Contact Robin with questions, ideas, and interest! Robinmitz2015@gmail.com. Spread the news! Word of mouth is the best of the best!We thank you for all you do for the IHN families and we look forward to working with you more and inviting in some new faces!!Sincerely,Robin MitzcavitchAdvisory Board Chair
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Hosting Schedule 2022:
We will be covering March 6th - 12th, 2022. Please mark your calendars! We hope you can help!
They have several Open Weeks with no coverage. Do you think we should change to any of the below dates? Please email Ed Romeo at eromeo795@gmail.com with your input.
February 20 - 26
February 27 - March 5
June 26 - July 2
July 24 - 30
September 4 - 10
November 20 - 26
A few friendly reminders from Director Michelle Beaver:
All volunteers must be CORI'ed by their congregation or IHN prior to volunteering. IHN will only hold the copy of the CORI that they process and expect that the congregation holds on to their copy and IHN will have access if an issue should arise. All CORI's must have been done within the past two years of the volunteer time.
IHN would like that most volunteers be vaccinated, however, we still have some that are not and require that if they are not, they must stay in the office and not spend time with the families. Mask should be worn whenever someone is within 6 feet of another person.
We would like to remind all volunteers that picture taking of any sort is not allowed here at IHN, even if a family gives permission. Families must sign a release with IHN and IHN will take photos of the families.
We would also like to remind volunteers that it is not their job to police. It is difficult for people in crisis to feel like they are being questioned all of the time. We try our best to let them live independently as much as possible while they are in the program.
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Catholic Free Press Articles about IHN:
Two articles about IHN were published in the January 29th edition - one is the cover story!
Read them here and be inspried to help in some way!
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WHY IT'S SAFE TO SERVE AT IHN:
January 5, 2021:
Good Afternoon,
We have been doing really well with covering a significant amount of shifts with volunteers to prevent congregations from paying for staff coverage. You all have been such a supportive team of volunteers during such a difficult time. I really do not know how to say how grateful I am. We are looking to grow our emergency volunteer list. If you know of anyone in your congregation that would like to be added to this list, please send them my way.You can read my recent email on all the measures we are taking to keep everyone safe here.
We greatly appreciate ANY help you can offer!
Blessings,
Michelle Beaver
Director, IHN of Greater Worcester
91 June St. Worcester, MA 01602
Telephone: 508-755-2212
mbeaver@ihnworcester.org
https://www.ihnworcester.org
August 3, 2020:
Good Afternoon,
Hope you are well. You will find an update about how IHN is doing during this time of uncertainty here. We have been doing extremely well and I thought it would be great news to share and for you to be able to share with your volunteers. Please feel free to contact me with any questions that you might have.
We also just updated 2 documents:
Blessings,Michelle Beaver
Director, IHN of Greater Worcester
91 June St. Worcester, MA 01602
Telephone: 508-755-2212
mbeaver@ihnworcester.org
https://www.ihnworcester.org
Thank you for your generous support!!
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IHN Background:
Who We Are:The Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) of Greater Worcester works in partnership with the faith community to provide shelter and assistance to homeless families with children. The program’s primary goals are to assist families in increasing their income and to help them secure permanent housing, while providing the critical support services necessary for them to succeed. In addition to IHN staff, these support services involve approximately 1000 volunteers that come from the host and support congregations, as well as the community at large. Our program gives people the opportunity to become involved, to put their beliefs into action by providing hands-on mission work in their own community and to make a difference in the lives of families who are desperately in need.
The shelter is located at 91 June Street, Worcester, MA. It is a three story home and has the capacity to accommodate six families at any given time. The first floor of the building is handicap accessible. Check out their new website at http://www.ihnworcester.org/!
Volunteer Based Program:IHN partners with the religious community in a unique joint mission to serve and nurture the resident families. Volunteers from 25 congregations rally together to give of their time and interest each week and to share in this unique community mission. Volunteers provide meals or grocery gift cards, diapers, wipes and other household supplies, companionship, support and moral encouragement. They provide 100 hours of program coverage each week for evening and overnight supervision for the program (5:30pm to 6:30am M-F; 5:30pm to 8:30am Sa-Su).
Volunteers dine with the families and stay during the evening to socialize, plan activities for the children, tutor children in need and provide caring, compassionate support to parents and children. One or two volunteers are recruited to stay overnight with the guests, sleeping privately on cots located in the Director’s office.
Volunteers are critical to the success of stabilizing families who are guests of the IHN program. Your involvement, commitment and advocacy enables IHN to help families at a fraction of the cost of traditional shelters and allows them to stay in a safe, secure and loving family-oriented environment.
How we help at St. Mary and St. Philip . . .
Annual Shoe Drive (Returning in 2019 or 2020):
Each Spring, IHN runs a Shoe Drive collecting gently used shoes, boots, sandals, sports shoes, etc. The shoes are exchanged for donations from Funds2Orgs to IHN.
What’s unique about this fundraiser?
In the US alone, over 630 million pairs of shoes are thrown out each year. Materials used to manufacture shoes are created from chemical compounds that will create hazards if left to disintegrate openly in landfills. By donating your gently used pairs of shoes to IHN, your shoes are given a second chance to make a difference. All donated shoes will be redistributed to microenterprise partners through Funds2Orgs and used in developing nations for impoverished people to start, maintain, and grow a unique business opportunity to feed, clothe and house their families.
Who can participate: your congregation, your workplace, local thrift stores, youth groups, sports teams, local businesses, neighbors, civic groups – pretty much anyone you can co-ordinate with! Collection bins are placed at St. Mary and St. Philip during the drive.
House Coverage During Our Hosting Week:
For many years, St. Mary/St. Philip hosted the homeless families in the St. Mary Parish Hall. These families used to travel from church to church, town to town, each with all of their worldly belongings in plastic totes.
Since 2011, IHN has been supporting a residence on June Street in Worcester so that these families have a place to call home. The house is not far from Grafton and easy to get to (just off Chandler Street).
We do a special collection at the Masses the weekend before to provide food and supplies for the week we are at IHN. Your generous donations provide crictial funds for school supplies and clothing, as well as their day-to-day necessities.
We ask volunteers to be either an Evening Host or an Overnight Chaperone. Evening Host is there from 5:30pm-8:30pm; Overnight Chaperone is there from 8:30pm-6:30am Monday-Friday and 8:30pm-8:30am Saturday and Sunday.
Evening Hosts: Arrive at the house at 5:30pm. The residents provide the food to be prepared. They have a schedule of which families are the main cooks. They pool their food resources and decide on the menu. The Host can help prepare the food or help with setting up the tables/buffet, and then share in the meal. The Host can also help with clean up.
Everyone is supposed to chip in and join the meal, but some may be working or caring for an infant or such. It is a great chance to play with the kids and get to know the people who live there. It’s a fun and social evening!!
Overnight Chaperones: Arrive at the house at 8:30pm to relieve the Evening Host. A Chaperone is there to let a resident in who has to work after curfew, provide access to the office to the drug lock box if a resident needs to get evening or early morning medications. The chaperone does not administer any prescriptions, just unlocks the lock box and makes sure the resident takes his/her own medication.
Chaperones will sleep on a twin cot in the office. There are 2 cots if you would like to come as a couple or with a friend. Please plan to bring your own linens and your favorite pillow.
If there are any issues, the chaperone contacts the IHN staff to inform them. All contact information is provided. In any kind of emergency, you would call 911 just like you would do at home. An IHN staff member will relieve you at 6:30am (8:30am on weekends).
A Current CORI form and signed Code of Conduct Acknowldegement Form are required. You must have taken the Safe Environment Training Course. More information on Safe Environment can be found here.
Sign-up:
Sign-up sheets will be put by the entrances at both churches the month before we are scheduled to cover. We will also post a sign up online.
Why do we serve the people at IHN?
We serve out of Love. This is what we do as church. It is what God wants. It is not for us, or even about us. It’s about them. It’s about walking with them, even if it’s just for an evening, on their journey to a better life. It is about Love. God is extending this invitation for you to go out and serve. Please look into your heart and pray about this opportunity to show God’s Love and Mercy.
If you have any questions, please contact our IHN coordinator Ed Romeo by phone at 508.839.3993 x32 (Soup Kitchen Extension) or e-mail: SoupKitchenMinistry@stmarysgrafton.org.
Thank you for your fellowship and support!
