A Northern Michigan church and a local nonprofit teaming up to give support to some of our most vulnerable citizens, the homeless.
Cadillac’s Temple Hill Baptist Church and Love INC. have been working to provide more support to the homeless.
Pastor Andy Brubaker said it started out from a group of church members, who were passionate about helping the community.
“We’re just here to build relationships and let them know we care,” said Brubaker.
Brubaker said after conversations with the Salvation Army and Love INC., they discovered a need, the lack of shower facilities for the homeless.
“Summertime, there’s a lot of things open that they could do that publicly. But as far as the wintertime, there’s not really anything for them, “said Brubaker.
Brubaker said the church has locker style bathrooms off the gymnasium where people could shower, and the idea snowballed from there.
“They can come in, we give them a shower, we feed them a hot meal, clothe them, provide them with a bag of extra resources, some hygiene products and some other things that they can take with them.
We also do haircuts and really, we just spend time sitting around interacting, getting to know people,” said Brubaker.
The pastor said they couldn’t do ‘The Shower Ministries’ without the help of Love INC.
“They screen all the people. They put them in their database, and they identify other needs that might be present so that we can minister to all of their needs and not just. ‘Hey, here’s one little way we helped you, and we’ll see you next month,” said Brubaker.
He said others in the community also have stepped up.
“We don’t have a fully licensed kitchen, so some restaurants like Blue Heron and Primos have donated food, but a lot of the other restaurants in town, we just buy the meals for them as well,” said Brubaker.
He said it takes a village to help out.
Even church members help to provide transportation to their facilities, help with meals, and provide companionship.
Church members like Dan Peterson said it’s given him perspective.
“I just think very frequently of the fact that that could be me. The circumstances in my life could be such that I would be a person that doesn’t have a home. And it’s caused me to think much more. I know I’m no better than any homeless person. I’m just a person that has been blessed,” said Peterson.
The church is taking donations for clothing, food, and monetary donations for the project.
People interested in taking part in “The Shower Ministries’ can sign up at the Cadillac Salvation Army. Temple Hill Baptist church members are providing transportation to the church.