June, 2020 Updates
Director Letter for June, 2020:
We can all agree it has been a crazy year with things happening that we never would have guessed. However, as the shelter has gone through this stressful time, we have enjoyed the warmness and love of our community. We feel incredibly blessed of God !!!
Life continues along with much needed haircuts. Thanks to Miss Jackie for helping to make our residents "beautiful."
Early on, we made the decision to not bring in any new Residents during the Pandemic due to the fact we wanted to protect our current residents as well as our staff and volunteers from any potential exposure to COVID-19.  This decision was made along with many other shelters in our area. Many of our churches, businesses and individuals that help feed the shelter continued to support us, just in a different way with pickup and delivery. For that we are most thankful.

Also, God has blessed us in that none of our Staff or Residents contracted the virus, and therefore there was no quarantine. We did require that anyone entering the facility use the WHO spray on their hands. And we provided a mask for each individual and child (masks were hand-made by a community volunteer). 

All Residents that were at the shelter when the Pandemic started have now moved on to their own housing or have returned home in another city.  Two families with six children moved into their own housing last week. Our last Resident to leave was excited to be going home to handle some personal business, and boarded a bus on Thursday. We wish him the best!

Life is full of it's highs and lows. We recently had one of our two transport vans stolen. This presents a challenge in transporting our Residents back and forth to town, and we are considering our options. Please let us know if you have any resolution ideas.

On a brighter side, an older car was donated to the shelter to give to a resident in need.  We are "gifting" this vehicle to  a Veteran couple, who were previous shelter Residents. While with us they were able to move into housing. Now they will have much needed transportation.

We are now bringing in new people that need help finding employment and/or housing. With a structured approach, we have a goal of being at full capacity in couple of weeks. There is still progress to be made maneuvering through the new "normals" and we need your continued prayers and support. 

Thanks to those businesses that sponsor  our fundraisers and to our Legacy Partners. Please support those that have helped us as businesses open again. You can learn who some of  these different organizations are at our website or on our Facebook Page.

We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to aiding those less fortunate. All donations are tax deductible.

You don't have to be wealthy to make a difference in a person's life.

 
Visit our website at www.northstrandhousingshelter.org  and also, LIKE us on Facebook