Hilda's Place Shelter

This afternoon we hauled our trailer full of clothes to Hilda's Place Shelter in Evanston.  Hilda's Place, operated by an organization called Connections for the Homeless, is a shelter with a mission of helping people who are experiencing homelessness get back on their feet and into permanent housing.  While most shelters allow people to stay for a few short weeks, Hilda's Place is available for people to stay at for three months.  During that time individuals are partnered with social workers who work one on one with them to help create opportunities for success.

The men's dorm room has room for 8 people at one time.

The women's dorm room also has room for 8 people, but the space is certainly small and cramped.

THANK YOU, ZUMBRO, for the amazing response to our clothing drive back home.  Inside Hilda's Place there is a "store" available for both overnight guests of the shelter and individuals who utilize their drop in shelter during the daytime hours.  We asked for clothing ... and you certainly delivered!

The amount of clothes you brought in could have filled this barrel 10 times!

It took some teamwork to haul the clothes from the trailer to the shelter.

Way to go, Grant!

Hmm...  Was Deb shopping for the day or delivering to Hilda's Place?

Rena started out the afternoon with the sorting team in the store room.  All of the clothing we brought in had to first be split into men's/women's, tops/pants, sizes, etc. 

I love intergenerational ministry.  It wasn't always easy to figure out where items should go, but Jan provided help for lots of our team workers.

Janette must have sorted all afternoon!  I don't think we ever saw her walk out of that store room until it was time to leave.

Carl, on the other hand, walked back and forth hundreds of times to pick up the sorted items and put them where they belonged in the store.

Rich kept busy hanging up clothes for a few hours.

Our youngest boys dug through those piles and found all sorts of ties to display in the store.  Thanks, Lucas and Will.

Check out that well organized store behind Damon.

There wasn't room for all of us to be working in the store, but there was certainly plenty of work to be done.  Angela and the boys spent the afternoon picking up the trash that was littering the alley and entrance surrounding the shelter.  (Notice there isn't any snow on the ground here?!?)

Abby, Sam and Megan prepared lunch bags to be given out to shelter guests the next day.

Check out this great looking crew!  It's been a wonderful couple of days watching new friends get to know one another.  From age 7-70 we have people in all decades of life but one in this group.  Pretty amazing (and lots of fun).