November 30, 2015

Friends, 

The good news is that the Fountain Park warming shelter will open, complete with hot showers, at 5 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1.  Today I was there when representatives from the city Bureau of Building Standards and Safety were making a final inspection. After a few simple corrections (mostly signage) it will be ready to open tomorrow.

The bad news is that there are only 38 beds available instead of the 46 that originally were announced. There simply is not enough room, and it is not clear what will be done if more people come to the shelter. There is no extra space in the building.

Zion's Filled the Gap Again!

Because of the continuing delay opening Fountain Park, we at Zion's church once again opened a "stopgap" overnight shelter last week as the temperatures dropped below freezing. We've had people sleeping here every night since last Tuesday, and they soon will be arriving here for one more night as the termperatures drop into the mid 30s. We also have begun serving breakfast  -- thanks to many food contributions and volunteer teams from First Presbyterian and Zion's church. 

Good News about Bus Tickets

LANTA agreed to provide deeply discounted bus tickets and they will tell me tomorrow exactly what their pickup schedule will be. We are still working out a method to distribute the bus tickets, but since they are all-day passes, it makes sense to distribute them at the shelter in the morning as people are leaving. They can use them during the day and then return to the shelter at night. We had one donor who contributed $1,000 toward these passes to get us started. Thank you!

Volunteer Update

We will begin rotating volunteers for our breakfast crew later in the month of December, however we have an immediate need for drivers to pick up food from diners/restaurants on Wednesday afternoons between 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Email me directly if you can do this on a one time basis (this Wednesday!) or on a regular basis (once a month or more?).

If you already contacted us to volunteer helping with the breakfast, we soon will be providing a link to SignUp Genius to schedule sign-ups and I will let you know when that goes "live." However, both the Health Department and Second Harvest Food Bank** have guidelines that our volunteers have to follow. Our first priority was to get a few people trained and then set up a system to cover the first few weeks. We now are organizing that for use with more volunteers. Stay tuned!

A Straightforward Appeal for Funds

We have a good supply of food going into next week, thanks to donations from our congregation and local restaurants. We also became an approved agency of Second Harvest Food Bank and we're waiting to learn what food they will be supplying. So our immediate need is for financial contributions.

I apologize if you seeing this appeal multiple times, but we are trying to get the word out to those who have a heart for this kind of community service and ministry. If you have friends who might support this project, please forward this to them. Our financial needs are outlined below:

Unexpected Expenditures

Opening our Memorial Hall as a stopgap shelter cost us over $1,000 in staffing costs.

There are increased utilities costs not only for the shelter but also for the increased use of the kitchen and dining area.

We decided to "go green" by using our dishwasher instead of paper products, but it needed servicing and repair before we could bring it into regular use again (and be compliant with health bureau regs). As we bring the kitchen back up to speed to cook and serve meals, we've paid repair bills not only for the dishwasher but also for the stove, the plumbing, and a locksmith!

I learned that our stovetop grill hasn't been used in decades, and it is not repairable, but it would be possible (and very helpful) to purchase and install a countertop grill on top of the old grill.

We have purchased a rotary toaster - and it's good we did because it works great for the bagels donated by Johnny's as well as for toast!

And there is a lot of stuff we have purchased that you wouldn't think about, but then you need it almost immediately: latex-free gloves, aprons, paper towels and napkins, etc.

Although when we began this breakfast we assumed we would be serving from November through April, Second Harvest Food Bank already has asked us to consider providing this service year-round. They anticipate there will be a significant need for this in the coming year. Also, considering the investment being made in kitchen equipment, as well as staff and volunteer training, it only makes sense to continue this beyond the winter months.

But to do that, we need the support of the community as well as our small congregation. So click here if you are able to make a contribution via PayPal or credit card or send your contribution to Zion's Liberty Bell UCC, 620 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, Pa. 18101, with a notation that it is for the Jubilee Ministry. We appreciate your gift, but m ore importantly, those who are homeless appreciate your support as they are struggling to get back on their feet again.

Thank you! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me personally (610-390-7787).

Pastor Bob

** NOTE:  The mission of this Jubilee breakfast ministry is to provide a warm,  safe place and a meal for those who are homeless. We are a member agency of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Lehigh Valley and Northeast PA and do not discriminate "in distribution of food or other donated product against any person because of race, color, citizenship, religion, sex, national orgin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation including gender identity, unfavorable discharge from the military or status as a protected veteran."