JANUARY 26, 2024 SHELTER 911! Weather Amnesty at Purple House needs volunteers There is a difference between being “unhoused” and “homeless.” Not having a house means not having a reliable, safe overnight place to sleep; it means that you are unsheltered. But the definition of “home” goes beyond “house.” Home is “a place where one is a member of a family or household.” In other words, a family of blood or bond. Ergo, to be homeless means that you have nowhere to belong; no one waiting for you to be there with them, no one wondering where you are. Homeless shelters and similar programs are able to meet the human need for food and overnight shelter, although unfortunately they do not always offer “safety.” They are also not able to, nor even designed to, provide a place where someone feels important to someone else. Having that need met, the need to love and be loved, is essential to survive and be healthy. The brain’s reliance on positive healthy relationships for proper functioning is an (emerging) neuroscientific fact. People need to have more than a house, they need a proper home environment in order to flourish, not just food and shelter. Weather Amnesty at Purple House strives to provide that home, even if it is for just one night. Weather Amnesty offers a safe, warm, loving place for up to ten individuals to sleep. The program runs from December 15 to the end of March. Guests who need the hospitality call in to reserve a cot and, JIM CLARK Groundcover vendor No. 139 in general, may arrive between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Guests may take showers, share a meal, and use the washers and dryers before 10 p.m. Weather Amnesty needs volunteers! Food is available and guests and hosts (volunteer staff) are encouraged to share laughter, experience, hope and a culture of closeness. The experience comes from the volunteers who have helped Weather Amnesty prevent cold-exposure deaths for four years running now. Some of the volunteers have been homeless themselves and are able to offer their knowledge and support. There are no drugs or alcohol allowed on the property known as Jimmy Hill House, or colloquially, the Purple House. Both the Weather Amnesty program and the Purple House are owned and operated by the homelessness advocacy nonprofit known as MISSION (Michigan Itinerant Shelter System Interdependent Out of Necessity). The most important feature of Weather Amnesty is its management style, focused on forging relationships. There are strict rules, as are necessary in intense situations, but what ultimately keeps things calm and orderly is the relationship that the hosts have with the guests. Hosts and guests watch TV together, talk, play games and keep each other company. Volunteer hosts are trained in administering Narcan and using de-escalation techniques, and new volunteers are paired with experienced ones. Many hosts help the guests with other problems, almost like case-workers. Many become close friends (guests and hosts alike) and remain so after the season ends in April. Currently, Weather Amnesty operates four days a week. They would love to be open seven days, but are short on volunteers. (At the time of this writing, a polar vortex is approaching Michigan.) Weather Amnesty is at capacity the four nights they are open and the skeleton crew of hosts is at capacity for volunteering. Given the impending weather, the need for shelter has become higher (some folks who are tent dwellers may not be outfitted for extreme cold). There will also be a potential shortage of the staff that are available due to the snow and ice. If you can spare a night to help Weather Amnesty keep the lights on, please contact Rose Marcum Raugh @ 734-945-7825. Even just one night of volunteering could literally save people’s lives! GROUNDCOVER NEWS 5 Alexandra Granberg (volunteer) and Patty (guest) share a cup of tea and company at Purple House. The temperature was 6 degrees that night.
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