Volunteering for Winter Outreach

​St. John’s continues to work with Winter Outreach, a volunteer organization that provides emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Through this ministry we strive to live out our baptismal covenant to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.

​The COVID pandemic has required Winter Outreach to adjust their procedures to provide shelters with larger spaces and more ability to keep guests socially distant. Winter Outreach has also worked with infectious disease specialists to develop procedures that protect the health of both volunteers and guests, including PPE requirements.

​This season St. John's is teaming up with Christ Church Cathedral to staff an emergency shelter at St. Paul’s UCC (3510 Giles) on Monday nights when the temperature drops below 20° or 25° with precipitation. The combined effort of our congregations will leverage the much needed resources to implement the shelter.

​Volunteers sign-up to be “on-call” for a specific Monday through on online schedule. If the temperature drops below the threshold, volunteers are notified that the shelter is activated. There are several roles for which you can volunteer:

• Greeters arrive at 5:30 pm and remain until 10:00pm. They welcome the guests, make them comfortable, serve dinner and provide a safe and caring environment during the evening.
• Innkeepers arrive at 9:00 pm and remain until 7:00 am the next day. They maintain a quiet and restful environment through the night and distribute breakfast and bus tickets in the morning. Training is available for those who are new to this role.
• Clean Up/Set Up arrive at 7:00 am to clean and sanitize the shelter. They also place fresh linens on the cots in preparation for the next time the shelter is open. This role does not have any direct contact with guests.
• Food Team prepares hearty and healthy meals for the guests and greeters. These meals can be made in advance and frozen. This role does not have any direct contact with guests.

If you are interested in volunteering with Winter Outreach this season, please contact Travis Hall at [email protected]. Thank you!