A 20-member I-HELP committee at Church of the Palms has been working hard for the last two months to get ready for the October launch of I-HELP Northwest Valley. I-HELP (Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program), a program of Lutheran Social Services, is designed to help the growing numbers of working people who have lost access to affordable housing.
The 90-day program helps the men and women in the program develop a life plan that restores them to permanent housing. They are assisted by a full-time caseworker from LSS, to locate the resources needed and keep them on task for the 90 days or less.
As a supporting church, COTP will be providing housing, food, showers, and laundry every Monday night to the 12 women and men in the program. The program is for adults over the age of 18, not for families with children. Five other churches in the Surprise, El Mirage and Sun City communities are also hosting churches.
The COTP committee, led by Max Klinkenborg, has Laurie Cathey as food coordinator, Vickie Ashenbrenner coordinating nighttime monitors and John Durbin as transportation coordinator. Sharon Astle is our secretary and Mike Astle is the treasurer. The Service Committee has purchased sheets and prepared them to fit our mats. The program runs with volunteers and there will be signup sheets in the narthex.
There is a cost to being a host church and we are trusting members and friends of COTP to help with in-kind gifts of food, toiletries, and laundry soap and cash gifts designated for I-HELP.