Volunteering at St. Paul
St Paul Men’s Shelter started as a winter time, overnight-only shelter as part of the Winter Hospitality Overflow program. In 2020, it became a year-round shelter for 25 men. The non-profit organization, Outsiders Inn provides site management and peer mentoring through trained staff who have lived experience of homelessness or other trauma. Men reside onsite between 6:30 pm and 7:00 am Monday thru Friday, and 24 hours over weekends and holidays. The men’s shelter at St Paul is also referred to as ‘Outsiders Inn at St Paul.’
In addition to St Paul Men’s Shelter housed on the first floor of the St Paul Education Building, St Paul opens a Severe Weather Shelter (SWS). St Paul Severe Weather Shelter (SWS) is set up in the basement of the 1309 building (enter by stairwell at SE corner of the building) when Council for the Homeless alerts the community that severe weather (extreme cold or hot weather or poor air quality) is expected. The SWS at St Paul is typically open from 11am until 6pm. Beverages and snacks are offered in addition to hospitality, restrooms and a place to rest.
There are numerous ways that individuals and groups can assist in the homeless ministries work being done at St Paul Lutheran Church.
Ways YOU can partner in the homeless sheltering programs at St Paul
Help at the Severe Weather Shelter in various capacities in an ‘on-call’ basis:
- Volunteer on-site to extend hospitality (greet, offer food and drink as available socialize, maybe play a game or cards with guests, etc).
- Donate food, beverages, supplies as may be needed for days when the Severe Weather Shelter is open.
- Be a driver to transport other volunteers (not guests) to and from SWS when road conditions (particularly snow and/or ice) are challenging for some people willing to cover an SWS shift.
Severe weather is announced up to a week in advance. We cannot anticipate how often these will occur in the winter (or summer.) We are building a team of volunteers whom we will contact when sheltering is expected. We never know how many people may stop at the shelter, or how long they will stay.
We ask for participation for each incidence. Multiple volunteers are scheduled whenever the SWS is open. Volunteering at the SWS is an opportunity for individuals or small groups to interact with people seeking temporary respite. Indicate your interest in helping with the Severe Weather Shelter at St Paul – opportunities occur throughout the year — by completing the form online at https://bit.ly/helpstpaul
Provide a meal at St Paul: volunteer thru ‘MealTrain.com’
- Dinner and weekend mid-day meals for 25 residents and staff (29 people) at Outsiders Inn at St Paul are scheduled using software called ‘MealTrain’. St Paul Men’s Shelter does not have a stove so meals need to be delivered warm and ready to serve.
- Signing up to bring a meal involves handing the meal over to staff, and then departing without entering the shelter (for a total of not more than 10 minutes at the door.)
- If you are interested in delivering AND SERVING the meal, please indicate this in the ‘Notes’ when you sign up; allow up to 1-1/2 hours to be on-site, and let the staff person who receives your food know that you hope to ‘come in and serve’ the meal.
Detailed information about dates needed, delivery, and a peek at what other people are serving can be found on the MealTrain sign-up, https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/04435v
*Note that there are two other year-round shelters overseen by Outsiders Inn that also welcome meals provided by members of the community. The MealTrain signup to schedule at any of these can be found at: https://www.mealtrain.com/groups/outsidersinn
Coordinate a special project for one of the St Paul shelters
Whether you’d like to serve a meal and host games, give out holiday bags to our guests, do some physical improvement to the site (yardwork, paint, provide more storage, etc), or you have other ideas to help our guests or our programs, contact our shelters: · Outsiders Inn at St Paul: waystohelp@outsidersinn.org or 360-909-9097 · St Paul Severe Weather Shelter: pastor@stpaulvancouver.com or whostpaulvanc@gmail.com
In-kind donations
- To Outsiders Inn at St Paul: Donations of staple food and pantry items that can be distributed among all Outsiders Inn shelter locations are appreciated. So are towels and twin-sized bedding, socks, hats, gloves, underwear, belts, razors, cleaning supplies and paper products. To make a donation, or to find out what is particularly needed for a collection or donation that you coordinate, or to check if we can accept your gift, contact Outsiders Inn by voice/text/phone: (564)-227-6828, or email: waystohelp@outsidersinn.org
- To Severe Weather Shelter at St Paul: Donations of bottled water, games that lend themselves to varying numbers of people, emergency weather supplies (handwarmers, space blankets or tarps, toiletries, etc), snacks like fruit cups, chips, bars, ‘instant’ meals, etc are appropriate for this shelter that opens when weather is dangerously hot, cold or smokey. To make a donation, or to find out what is particularly needed for a collection or donation that you coordinate, or to check if we can accept your gift, contact whostpaulvanc@gmail.com
To print a 4-page document of the above content, click here https://stpaulvancouver.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/St-Paul-WHO-Volunteer-Opportunities-2024rx.pdf
