In October, Gloria Dei will become a mobile shelter location as part of Interfaith Actions’ Faithful Hospitality program. Every night in October, Gloria Dei will host 4-7 immigrant families who are experiencing homelessness and seeking asylum.
We need your help.
Two adult volunteers are needed each night to stay overnight at church starting October 1 through October 31. All shifts start at 7 p.m. and end at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday
Your job is to provide a friendly, safe environment for these families to rest each night. Cots are provided for volunteers so bring only your own bedding. Sign up now to volunteer, or read on for more details (and then sign up!). Click here to sign up today!
Items of note for volunteers
Volunteer Training will be Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 6:30 p.m. in Room 109. Add to your calendar.
Background checks are required of ALL volunteers. Please sign up early too allow us to process and for you to complete the necessary steps.
Read on for more information about the program….
What is Faithful Hospitality?
Faithful Hospitality provides mobile shelters in St. Paul houses of worship to help Hennepin County deal with an overflow of families experiencing homelessness, especially families seeking asylum. The initiative, supported by the State of Minnesota, alleviates capacity challenges in shelters, decreases costs of serving families experiencing homelessness, and empowers interfaith partners to live out their faith values. Each month, three different area houses of faith host 20-24 emergency shelter beds. We strive to provide a site; volunteers; and a safe, clean, comfortable place for children and their parents/guardians to spend the night until they can transition into housing.
For Gloria Dei members who have experience volunteering with Project Home pre-COVID, this program operates much the same except that only overnight volunteer shifts are needed. Guests are arriving to Gloria Dei from a day site where they receive a number of services provided by Interfaith Action staff.
What does a volunteer shift look like?
Let’s break it down:
All shifts start at 7pm. On Monday through Friday shifts end at 7am and on Saturday and Sunday shifts end at 8am
Two adult volunteers per shift
When you arrive at 7 p.m. you will be greeted by a Gloria Dei member who is the Weekly Site Coordinator and a member of the Faithful Hospitality staff. They make sure all are settled, questions answered before leaving for the night
You may be asked to serve a small snack (packaged items provided by Faithful Hospitality)
Some families may mingle in the community room (MN room) and children may play or go straight to their rooms. Families are not allowed to leave the building
Some guests are employed and may have different times they arrive and depart. This will be clearly communicated to you
Guests are assigned a Sunday School room which will have cots and bedding
Lights out (families go to rooms) is at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
We ask that you tidy up any community areas
Get some sleep – locations available in the Minnesota Room and Library for volunteers. Cots are provided but you must bring your own bedding.
Wake up time each day is 6:30 a.m. Monday-Friday and 7:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Often families set their own alarms but volunteers should make sure all are up (a light knock)
Pack up your cots and tidy any community area, if needed, when families have left
Add any notes to the daily log
Onsite, all of the duties for volunteers are available in the onsite log book as well as phone numbers to call the Gloria Dei Weekly Site Coordinator and Faithful Hospitality – they are open to any questions
I don’t speak a second language. Can I still volunteer?
Yes, we want you to volunteer! Faithful Hospitality recommends volunteers and guests use Google Translate to navigate language barriers. Faithful Hospitality staff also arrive each night with the families and stay for up to 30-60 minutes to speak with the families directly. Some families may also want to practice English skills as well. At this time, the families in the program are from Spanish-speaking countries.
Background checks
Gloria Dei requires a background check for adults volunteering with children. We will need this completed before you volunteer. Allow for 1 hour to complete all tasks and complete 7-10 days prior to allow for processing time.
Confidentiality
The staff at Faithful Hospitality ask volunteers to exercise a high degree of confidentiality with the information you may learn from interacting with the families in the program. This topic will be covered in more depth during training.
I can’t attend training, can I still volunteer?
We request you try your best to make the training on Tuesday, Sept.24, at 6:30 p.m. in room 109 at Gloria Dei, but we will have an online recording from Faithful Hospitality that can be shared.
I want to learn more/have questions.
Please email faithfulhospitality@gloriadeistpaul.org to speak to a member of our volunteer leadership team.
Sign up to Volunteer
