The CIRC Circular

Newsletter of the COLUMBIA INTERFAITH RESOURCE CENTER

Vol. 1, Issue 1, Fall 2012

Greetings from the Board of CIRC!

The Columbia Interfaith Resource Center (CIRC) was incorporated a year and a half ago, to expand and enhance the resources and services available to our homeless, near-homeless, and at-risk neighbors. We are pleased to have received 501(c)(3) tax exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, assuring that your contributions are fully tax deductible. We are also listed as an approved charity by the Missouri State Attorney General's office. How can you help? Contribute financially, of course, and share the story of our work with your faith community and civic organization. We're also seeking volunteers for Room At The Inn, for January and February. We also want to expand the Board by 2-4 members. If you have strong business experience and community contacts, we'd like you to consider a position on the Board of Directors. Please talk to me! Most importantly, as a membership organization, CIRC rises and falls on your participation. Join us at our annual meeting and at future quarterly informational gatherings, to receive progress reports, get updates on need, and hear a success story! I look forward to working with you in the coming year, to Enlarge the CIRCle of our community, to better include our homeless neighbors! In hope, Rev. Steve Swope, chair CIRC Board of Directors

1 Front/delivery entrance of current Day Center at 616 Park

Your participation, even beyond financial support, is vital if we are to accomplish our mission! Right now we are hard at work, planning for this winter's Room At The Inn overnight shelter and seeking a larger and more useful space for the Interfaith Day Center.

2Back Yard and main entrance of current Day Center

Introducing: Your Day Center Manager

By Dahne Yeager Hello, My name is Dahne Yeager, and I will be starting my 11th year as the Interfaith Day Center Manager this November. When I came to Columbia I was homeless and was lucky that I had a truck that I could live out of. I heard of the Day-Center through word of mouth and spent time there as a majority of the "guests" to just get off the streets. I had specific questions that I needed answers to and was disappointed to discover that nobody could give me the answers. Questions like: How can I get in to see a doctor? Are there dental services available? Where can I receive mail? After I became the "holder of the keys" I made it my top priority to be able to answer these questions when people came in with these requests. But getting those answers raised another issue: most agencies required people applying for assistance to provide an address. Agencies would not sign up homeless clients because they could not provide an address. The argument was: "How can a homeless person have an address?" It took two years, but we finally convinced several government agencies that they could consider 616 Park Avenue as a viable mailing address for anyone who desired to use it. No one actually resided there: it was no different than a Post Office box. A simple mailing address was a huge benefit to the homeless population in Columbia because it gave them a legal address for State I.D. cards, helped them to maintain family contacts and to take advantage of various social service providers who required registration of "clients". I personally consider this one of my greatest accomplishments here. By building relationships with providers, I can now direct persons directly to the agency that can address their specific physical and/or mental health needs. Not just somewhere that "might" be able to help them, but someone that can address their particular issue. We help people access Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, VA services, Food Stamps, and Housing. I make Legal Referrals, Clothing Referrals, and applications for Birth Certificates and State ID cards. We provide limited financial assistance for medications, and telephone access for calls to medical providers and family contacts. We help with job searches through a regularly updated job listings board. We provide space for homeless people to take showers, and provide personal Hygiene and first aid supplies. We provide a limited amount of stamps, envelopes, City Bus passes. Plus we serve a lunch 4 days a week.

Being in the middle of the country and the middle of the state, the Day Center sees a lot of traffic. We have quite a few success stories but one stands out as my personal favorite. I received a phone call from a young lady in Phoenix. She was attending the University and read an article in the school paper about the Day Center. She had a brother who had been displaced from their family for a few years (various reasons). Just on the off chance she called me to ask whether he had been seen in or around Columbia. He had called telling her that he was traveling in the "Mid- West". She gave me his name and description and told me that the family wanted to bring him home. The Day Center has a core of individuals who visit daily and I refer to them as my "Posse" I got these guys and girls together and told them that we had a "Mission". Gave them the information that she gave me and I sent them out on the hunt. It took three weeks but we found Dennis Boyer camped out along the Katy Trail and five days after that he was on a Greyhound to Arizona. We've had people who come in looking to get into a treatment program and after getting them enrolled and upon their successful completion get work and are independently supporting themselves. This process takes time and it says something for the individuals who are willing to go through the struggle to achieve it. I'm not trying to make it sound like everyone who walks through the door sees these results. They don't. But what I am saying is it does happen and if I can help 2-3 people out of every 10 who do come in then that justifies me opening the door every day. The Day Center was created by the Inter-Faith Council of Churches and we operate through donations from those churches and other contributors from the community. One church organization provides a bi-monthly supply "package" and 3 groups bring lunch one day a month. Other than that we are totally dependent on what literally walks in the door. We are actively looking for another, larger location for The Day Center. (I'm currently operating with 323 sq. ft.) A larger location means more space for more people in need. There are people out in our community who need the services that we provide and they don't come to the Day-Center because the small size makes any type of privacy impossible, especially people who are homeless for the first time and are reluctant to come in or are just plain scared because they have absolutely no idea what to do or what is available to them. WE DESPERATELY NEED A BIGGER SPACE! I know that if I had a quiet area where I could sit down and be able to talk to these newly homeless, Id be able to calm some of their fears. The people are out there, please help me help them. Thank You.

Room at the Inn: How We Started & Where Were Going

By Janet Schisser Mission Statement: The Interfaith Room at the Inn Winter Shelter will provide a warm and safe place to sleep during the period January 1 through February 28, adjusted as weather dictates, between the hours of 7:00 pm 7:00 am. Room at the Inn began in the winter of 2010 as a mission of Missouri United Methodist Church (MUMC) with the goal of providing a warm, safe place off the street for unsheltered homeless folks. During that first winter, MUMC, in partnership with Calvary Episcopal Church, provided space, funding and volunteers. In 2011, more faith communities and the general public became involved in the Room at the Inn effort. Over a two month period, an average of 40-50 persons were able to sleep indoors at night, who otherwise would not have had a bed, because the other shelters in town were full. In 2012, MUMC decided that it could no longer house the shelter, but it did make remaining 2011 funds available for Room at the Inn. A dedicated group of volunteers found a location to house the winter shelter: an empty commercial structure on Old Highway 63 was donated for our use. Room at the Inn re-opened January 4, 2012, with a capacity limited to 10, and operated through March 12, 2012. Nine faith communities, several social service organizations and approximately 275 volunteers worked to make Room at the Inn a success. In September, 2012, CIRC formally adopted Room at the Inn as a program of the Columbia Interfaith Resource Center. After a diligent search, we found a location to house the shelter for the 2013 winter season: Wilkes Blvd Methodist Church, sharing space with Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen. We are confident that we will be able to complete preparations and be ready for the shelters scheduled opening January 1. Room at the Inn will be open through at least February 28, 2013. To date, Columbias faith communities and individuals have pledged almost $5000 toward our operating budget of $10,000 to $12,000. We need in-kind donations for the 2013 shelter, in addition to cash donations. In-kind donations include such things as bedding, hats, gloves, socks, paper products, coffee, tea, snacks, etc., as well as the loan of items like tables and chairs, coffee pots and a microwave, which may be needed

in the space for a limited period of time. We welcome new volunteers to join our work. Volunteers will be asked to participate in a short training session before working at the shelter.

3 Last year's Room at the Inn location

Stocking caps Gloves- jersey gloves will do fine Long johns and thermal shirts-especially large and extra large sizes socks- ankle length Sleeping bags Tarps Back packs, gym bags Paper products such as paper plates and bowls, paper towels, toilet paper Wet wipes, dish soap, spic n span, all- purpose cleaners Disposable razors Granola bars/cereal bars Coffee, creamer, sugar Hot cereal- individual packs 33 gallon garbage bag or city trash bag vouchers Volunteer groups are needed: -to assist in keeping the Interfaith Day Center clean both inside and outside -to bring a prepared light lunch of sandwich meat and cheese, stew, soup and casseroles.

The Interfaith Day Center & Room at the Inn need now for winter:

Answering the Call to Community: We Cant Do What We Do Without YOU

By Ruth ONeill Several members of the Day Center Taskforce and the CIRC board participated in the recent downtown clergy Homeless Summit in October. We got the chance to meet several of the newer pastors and pastoral staff members of some of the downtown churches and share perspectives about what we are doing about homelessness in Columbia and what else we should be working on. An excellent presentation by Steve Hollis led most present to conclude that joining Columbias Basic Needs Coalition would be an excellent step in getting more involved with the ongoing work that so many in our community are doing to work with and reach out a hand to our neighbors in need, and that joining or re-joining the Columbia Interfaith Council, the former parent of the Interfaith Day Center would also help to make them more aware of the work the is currently being done to address the issues of poverty and homelessness here in Columbia. CIRC wants to do more to help more homeless and near-homeless people in Columbia, but we cant do it without your help.

Come and see the work we do and let us tell you about the work we would like to be able to do, with more space and a bigger budget. We can only continue and expand our work if we have your prayerful and financial support. We are truly an Interfaith effort, embracing the rich diversity of the Columbia community as we seek to promote the common good even among the least of our neighbors. No religious test will ever be required to receive assistance from our operations, but we do rely on our various faith traditions to inform our work. We hope to grow a network of people of good will whether people of faith or of no particular faith who are passionate about reaching out to people in our community who live on the margins. We invite you to Like us on Facebook (we have a donate button on our page) or visit our website at http://www.comoresourcecenter.com. You can even mail us a check at P.O. Box 272, Columbia, MO . If you would like to volunteer or donate items to the Day Center call Dahne Yeager at 573-875-0826. If you would like to volunteer or donate items for Room at the Inn, contact Janet Schisser at 573-441-2555.

COLUMBIA INTERFAITH RESOURCE CENTER1 PO Box 272 Columbia 65205

The Columbia Interfaith Resource Center is a place where homeless, nearhomeless and at-risk persons are provided support and resources in a loving and dignified manner to not only comfort and sustain them in a moment of need but also to provide services which will help move them toward a safe, sustainable and self-sufficient life.