Redmond’s low-barrier shelter on Friday celebrated its first year offering year-round stays and services for people experiencing houselessness. Shepherd’s House Ministries’ Redmond Center hosted an anniversary party Nov. 15 for community members and guests staying at the shelter.
The Center, which initially operated as a winter shelter to provide emergency services with the help of local churches, opened as a fully operational, year-round shelter in November 2023. It has since had about 14,500 overnight stays, according to John Lodise, director of low-barrier services.
“We’ve been wanting to have this shelter for a long time because we really felt that we could do important work if we had a facility like this,” Lodise told the Source Weekly. “We now have that one year of shared experience that gives completely different life to this building.”
After opening last year, the shelter expanded its services in early February, providing three meals a day, life skills classes, case management and an internship program for those in long-term recovery.
The Center had about 400 unique individuals stay at least one night in the shelter since November. With its supportive services, nearly 100 people previously staying at the shelter have moved onto something else – whether that be housing, a high-barrier shelter, reconnection to family or enrollment in a substance treatment program, Lodise said.
With two case managers working seven days a week at the Center, he added, there’s always someone available to meet with guests who need it.
“The need exists, and we let people stay here for as long as they want to,” said Lodise. “If we fast forward to today, I look at the building and it’s not just an empty building that we have to make work. It’s a place of community with people who have come together. The people who are here, they’re meeting their basic needs together, they are sharing their struggles together.”
Lodise expressed his gratitude for the community support the Center has received, and regularly encourages locals to volunteer however they can.
Redmond local Sandy Dye was at the shelter on Nov. 15, volunteering like she normally does on Fridays. Since last Thanksgiving, just weeks after the shelter first opened, Dye has come in to help with a variety of tasks. She has no plans to stop.
What drew her in, she told the Source Weekly, was the welcoming atmosphere and the feeling of helping people in her community.
“In a year, I have seen people come and go, I’ve seen people advance and I’ve seen people fall back, but that support has never wavered from the people within Shepherd’s House Redmond,” she said. “I love it here. This has really become my family.”
This article appears in Source Weekly November 14, 2024.
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