After a successful pilot year, church congregations in Louisville are expanding their Room in the Inn program that provides overnight shelter during the coldest winter months.
The program is based on a model that started in Nashville and has since expanded to nearly 40 cities. Last January and February, Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral opened its doors to women and children experiencing homelessness, providing them with a warm meal and a place to sleep for the night. Volunteers from 17 church congregations helped run the program, which provided 526 nightly stays to 40 guests over the winter, according to organizers.
This winter Grace Immanuel United Church of Christ in Butchertown will serve as a second site for Room in the Inn. Rev. Erin Wathen said that will double the program’s capacity, and allow it to serve men. Each site will have room for about 15 beds.
“The beauty of Room in the Inn is that it’s not a full-time, year-round shelter meant to house a large group,” Wathen said. “It’s a smaller-capacity shelter that’s focused on relationships, dignity and being able to fill in some of the gaps in the city’s shelter system during the winter months when there just aren’t enough beds.”
Grace Immanuel will partner with the nonprofit St. John Center, which operates a day shelter less than two miles away. Uniting Partners for Women and Children will continue to refer people to the Christ Church Episcopal location.
The Room in the Inn program will begin operating on Jan. 5 and run through March 2.
On a typical night, volunteers open the church doors at 6 p.m. They check in each guest and show them where they can pick up a mattress, linens, towels and washcloths.
Dinner is served family-style around 7 p.m. Volunteers and guests eat together.
Rev. Matt Bradley, dean of Christ Church Episcopal, said the communal meal is a moment “where barriers between people who are serving and being served disappear.” For the volunteers, he said it helps change the way they think about homelessness.
“When people can sit down and get to know one another it closes the gaps and it helps people to be mindful of the situation that many of our neighbors face, not just during the season in which they’re volunteering with Room in the Inn, but year-round,” he said.
The lights go out around 10 p.m. and come back on around 5:30 in the morning. Guests are provided with a continental breakfast and a bag of shelf-stable food provided by Snacks in Sacks.
Seeing the program’s success last winter, Wathen said her congregation at Grace Immanuel wanted to get involved. Their partnership with St. John Center to refer people to the Room in the Inn site felt natural, since some of the church members previously served on the nonprofit’s board.
Wathen said running a program site this coming year will be one of the ways her congregation “practices what we preach.”
“Our concern for the poor is rooted in Scripture and our call to serve the least among us and to build more just communities is our interpretation of the very heart of the gospel of Jesus,” she said.
Organizers say the program is only made possible by volunteers and the community partners they work with. This winter, the nonprofit Feed Louisville is providing all of the meals. They also receive support from Norton Healthcare, GE Appliances, Louisville Medical Center and others.
Room in the Inn is currently fundraising to help pay for mattresses, equipment, food and supplies. They’re also looking for more faith communities interested in volunteering, particularly houses of worship that have transport vans.
More information about volunteering or donating to Room in the Inn can be found on their website.
