As we reach the anniversary of our first full year of providing service at the Shepherd’s House Redmond Center, I am inclined to think back to the days before we opened. At that time, our focus was on the challenges that we had to meet. Shepherd’s House has been serving the neediest and most hurting of our Central Oregon neighbors for 12 years, but a permanent, low-barrier shelter in Redmond was an entirely new undertaking. We were operating a newly constructed building that we had never operated before. We were in a new location within a community unfamiliar with having a shelter as a neighbor. We were beginning operations with a newly hired staff that had not previously worked together at all.

 

While we expected to see some of our homeless neighbors from other locations, we could not initially predict precisely who would come through our doors and how they would respond to our service and guidelines.  

 

Despite all these unknowns, we had faith that we were about to do the work that God wanted us to do. We knew the Shepherd’s House Redmond Center had been needed for a long time, and we were grateful that the time was available to do the actual work. We knew that people would come through our doors with trauma in their past, with physical and mental pain in their lives, with substance addictions to endure and overcome, and with a sense that they had become disconnected from much of what life offers most of us. 

 

We knew our primary mission was to welcome our guests, make sure that they knew they were safe and cared for within our walls, and that we were willing to walk with them through their challenges of trying to heal. We knew that we needed to show them there was hope and a way of living that was brighter and healthier than the suffering they had already known. We knew we needed to call on the Christ in ourselves and trust the Christ in our guests to sustain our healing environment.

 

Now, a year has gone by, and we are fully engaged in and committed to this work every day. I consider how those challenges at the beginning look after a year: 

 

The building has, at times, presented issues, but today, it is filled with people who make it not just a building but a place of community. As in a true community, these people meet their basic needs together, share their life struggles, encourage and support one another, celebrate their successes and joys, and hold each other accountable when necessary. It is a pleasure to be in this community when we live together in this way.

 

The City of Redmond and the community have told us they are glad we are here, and agencies that partner with us tell us that they enjoy experiencing the mood and demeanor of our Redmond Center community when they are here. Neighboring businesses and other outside community partners frequently donate to must be here. A and otherwise support our work. We are grateful that the Redmond Center has become accepted and valued as a neighbor among neighbors.

 

Our staff is a team. I am grateful to them for how they bring value and joy to their work.   Being with our guests in their most difficult struggles can be stressful and wearing, so it is a different type of value and joy. The team shows up every day and is there to serve our guests every day. Some days, there are true successes; other days, the win is to stay present with someone having their worst day, even if there is no fix. I am proud of this team as I watch them grapple with complications and contradictions in our work because this means they care enough to want to serve in the best way possible.

 

Have we helped our guests to see hope and a brighter, healthier way of living? Guests often thank me for how the Redmond Center meets their basic needs and then ask how they can help us do this work. Guests seek me out with a smile to let me know they have found housing, a new job, or are entering substance treatment. During our day program, staff, guests, and interns from our Men’s Center program are all together in a room for two to three hours, sharing and learning on our respective paths to growth and healing.  Guests find new value and motivation within themselves when they discover that they are not just being helped. They themselves can contribute to the growth and healing of others.

 

All of these things are occurring among a population that more than a year ago was unsheltered homeless, that is, living on the streets, in their cars, in camps, or other places not meant to be homes for people.

 

The data we collect supports this story. The unsheltered homeless have trusted us to meet their basic needs. In one year, over 400 different individuals have come to us for shelter. In a facility that shelters 50 people, we have provided over 14,500 overnight stays. Imagine what one night stranded on the street would be like for the average person. Now consider there have been 14,500 times in the last year when that experience was avoided for a human being.   We have provided over 50,000 meals. Also, we are helping people find pathways to hope and brighter, healthier ways of life. Of the 400-plus individuals we have sheltered, over 100 have found the help they were looking for: they have obtained permanent housing, have reconnected with their families, have been accepted into programs of longer-term transitional support, or have entered treatment for substance use. 

 

These numbers show success in finding help that meets the real-life needs of those who come to us for help. However, they also indicate that the ongoing need remains extensive, entrenched, and complicated. The work must continue. Like graduation celebrations at Shepherd’s House residential centers, our first anniversary is not a culmination of anything. It is a significant step on the long-term journey toward resolving homelessness, and more steps await.    

 

Watch the Redmond Center video here: https://youtu.be/CBvZDwNadd8