After nearly a decade of providing people with emergency shelter during harsh weather, the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana is handing over the reins of its white flag program to a partner: Nomad Church Collective, a New Albany-based ministry that focuses on helping marginalized communities.
The white flag program offers people a warm and safe place to stay when temperatures drop to 35 degrees or below. The season runs from mid-November through Mid-April.
“This is a really exciting opportunity for a partnership,” Homeless Coalition executive director Leslea Townsend Cronin said in a recent announcement.
She told LPM News the change will allow the coalition to shift its focus from crisis response to prevention, and pointed to a goal from its strategic plan to support affordable housing. The organization will also renovate Main Street United Methodist Church in New Albany for the nonprofit to support community needs. The building was donated to the coalition earlier this year.
Culbertson Baptist Church, in New Albany, is the white flag location.
Matt Fleenor, Nomad’s co-director and a Homeless Coalition board member, said the ministry will add services for clients at the emergency shelter. He hopes to inspire people to help.
“There is something about seeing a community rise up and come together unified to care for the people in their community,” he said.
Fleenor said the Homeless Coalition will continue funding the program. He thinks that organization can prioritize other work to support people experiencing homelessness or housing instability while Nomad takes care of white flag operations.
“I think this allows them to focus on other areas that they excel in, and for us to be able to focus on building relationships, inviting the community to kind of own this thing,” he said.
That was the spirit when the Homeless Coalition’s white flag shelter program started, Fleenor said. But as the need grew for people seeking shelter over the past decade, so did the need for more volunteers and more help from the community. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated staffing issues.
Last season, which had multiple snowstorms, Fleenor said the white flag shelter hosted up to 80 guests some nights.
Information from the Homeless Coalition shows they were open 69 days during the 2024-2025 season and served 280 people.
“The need has grown,” Fleenor said. “And I think the need for more people to be involved and participating has grown to kind of share that load and share that burden.”
Fleenor said Nomad is doubling down on community engagement efforts. Already, dozens of churches have already signed up to help, through volunteering or helping to make meals. Community members are also signing on.
More interactions between community volunteers and people experiencing homelessness could help combat stigma, Townsend Cronin said. And while the emergency shelter always needs funding, Townsend Cronin said Nomad activating these volunteers cuts the white flag budget in half. In recent years, they’ve had to pay staff to work the shifts.
Fleenor said clients will have access to services like counseling and pastoral care, and addiction recovery teams will come to the site to talk with clients.
“Not only do they have a safe place to be when it's cold and the weather is bad, but they also are being encouraged to take healthy next steps as well,” he said.
He said Nomad also wants to provide a space for people to connect — by playing games, reading, doing puzzles or making art in the time they have before lights out. Fleenor said this can help people form and strengthen supportive relationships.
The Homeless Coalition will provide information on daily white flag status on its Facebook page and via the white flag hotline at (812) 913-5368.
On days when white flag is called, the shelter will be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. at Culbertson Baptist Church, 4007 Grant Line Road in New Albany. Guests are served dinner and provided with breakfast and lunch.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
