A message from PACEM Executive Director, Jayson Whitehead:
This time last year we were in the middle of our 16th PACEM shelter season. In many ways, it felt like any other season. We numbered almost 40 guys a night and nearly a dozen women. Every night, we offered a safe place to sleep and a warm meal, thanks to churches like yours.
Sign up here to help our congregation feed PACEM guests January 25-31.
Two months later (mid-March 2020), we were thrown into a state of chaos that we had to try and make order out of. The crisis required great adaptability and we quickly pivoted our services from the church setting to fixed sites downtown. Normally seasonal, we extended our shelter services for an additional eight weeks.
By mid-June, we had shifted all of our services to a local hotel where 60 or so medically vulnerable guests still remain under PACEM’s supervision. In November, we reopened our men’s congregate shelter in your Summit House. Since then, we have sheltered 15-20 guests a night who would otherwise have no place to sleep.
With your support (and that of other notable congregations), PACEM has provided non-stop shelter since the end of October 2019. With your support, we will continue to shelter the “least of these” from the threats posed by life on the streets, whether from freezing weather or an invisible virus.
Thank you and take care!
Jayson Whitehead, PACEM