Interfaith Housing Network at Holy Trinity
What Is The Inter-Faith Hospitality Network Program? (IHN)
The IHN is a cooperative endeavor between the religious community
and social service agencies to combine cost efficient shelter with
volunteer support services while developing community participation.
The foundation of the IHN program is the use of existing resources;
churches and synagogues for overnight lodging, congregations for
volunteers, social service agencies for screening and referrals, and
existing facilities for day programs. Involvement of volunteers not
only significantly reduces program expenses but also helps them
understand the causes and the human nature of homelessness.
Volunteers do simple but immeasurably important things. They talk to
their guests. They treat them with respect. They listen. They
provide a safe refuge. Personal engagement is manifest in the
Network's philosophy of offering dignified and compassionate
assistance.
Each congregation, as a hosting congregation, provides overnight
accommodations and meals for three to four homeless families (up to
12 persons) one month per year on a rotating schedule. Social
service agencies and Inter-Faith screen and refer guests to the
Network. Individuals with substance abuse or psychiatric problems
are not accepted into the program. Guests are transported by
volunteers each evening to the congregation’s building. Volunteer
hosts receive the guests and acquaint them with the overnight
accommodations. Each host congregation prepares and serves an
evening meal for their guests. Hosts are encouraged to eat meals
with their guests. This family-style dining along with an unhurried
meal affords an opportunity to build fellowship with guest families.
After dinner, recreation and/or study facilities are made available
for the children; the hosts and guests can continue to visit.
Families have several required meetings, some in the evening, to
help them progress.
Participating congregations are expected to furnish clean, safe and
private overnight sleeping accommodations which are equipped with
portable beds and essentials supplied by the Network. Volunteer
hosts remain at the church or synagogue overnight with the guests.
After the guests have breakfast the following morning, they leave
for work and child care facilities or they are returned to the day
facility to work with social service agencies to secure housing,
employment and entitlements.
Many communities have successfully implemented an IHN program for
homeless families and individual women. The unique characteristics
of this program, combining shelter, meals, day facilities and
extensive volunteer involvement, were developed in the Union County,
New Jersey Network in the fall of 1986.
Support from Network volunteers in other communities have made a
traumatic time in the lives of the homeless guests easier to cope
with and enabled them to develop a more confident approach to
solving their problems. Compassion and quality of assistance for
families who need a home are important elements in their ability to
maintain a dignity of life and regain independence.
There are slightly over 85 Inter-Faith Hospitality Networks
throughout the country. IHN of Ambler has some singular
characteristics worth noting. It is the only Network (Other than
IVIHN started in 1998 by IHN of Ambler) to host on a monthly basis,
rather than weekly. It has volunteer Advocates and Budget Counselors
to assist each family. Other Networks have a paid case worker. It is
also one of the few Networks to rely exclusively on volunteers for
its transportation needs. It provides weekly counseling for each
family and like some other Networks it also provides a parenting
class.
What Are The Advantages of The IHN?
Humane Shelter: Overnight lodging and meals are provided by each
participating congregation in private, safe, healthy, "home-like"
accommodations.
Cost Efficiency: An IHN can maintain low expenses by relying
primarily on existing resources in the community; churches and
synagogues for shelter space, social service agencies for screening
and referrals, existing day facilities and hundreds of volunteers.
Support Services: Volunteers in existing programs have played a
major role in providing additional support services for Network
guests. This has resulted from volunteers experiencing firsthand the
difficulties that the homeless face.
Provisional Shelter: The Network program does not institutionalize
shelter as a permanent solution to homelessness. It is not a
substitute for affordable housing initiatives.
Catalyst for Change: Individuals and congregations participating in
the Network often develop other initiatives to aid the homeless such
as renovation of housing and transitional housing. Volunteers not
only become advocates on an individual basis, but many - frustrated
by the desperate situation the homeless face - begin to seek changes
leading to permanent solutions for homelessness.
Social Concern: Congregations experience ownership of the program as
their outreach work to the homeless.
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