MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to provide a safe, warm place for our homeless neighbors in Enfield to stay overnight during the coldest months of the year..

WHO WE ARE - Picture of our Board of Directors and our Executive Director,  left to right: Rev Peter Bushnell, Lorraine Creedon, Susan Carllo, Murry and Priscilla Brayson, Monica Wright, Deacon Paul Roberts, Sue Banning, Paul Tedder, and Rosalind Swift

The Enfield Safe Harbor Warming Center exists as a part of Enfield People for People, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation, formed to create shelter for our homeless, heatless neighbors in Enfield during frigid New England winters. We do this at the kindness of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Enfield, who allow us to invite homeless neighbors in for shelter from 9:00pm to 7:00 am, January through March. 

We are governed by a Board of Directors, comprised of volunteer men and women from many life disciplines, who bring their considerable expertise to plan, advise, manage and direct our work in Enfield.

We have paid staff, including our Executive Director, Monica Wright, and five paid overnight staff, who train and assist community members who are willing to volunteer overnight.

Our Board and our Executive Director currently operate all office, media, and documentation from their homes, because we do not, as yet, have a permanent structure. 

Our Board is also responsible for media communications, fundraising, community engagement, collecting donations of supplies and food, and speaking to churches, service organizations, and other entities to share our work and ask for participation.

IMPACT 

Each year ESHWC has increased the number of guests we have been able to shelter in our overnight facility at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Enfield. We have also increased the number of days we open from later in January through March to early January through the first week of April.

We seek to become more visible in our community in order to engage individuals and businesses in our area to participate in the battle to end homelessness. Our partners have made donations, given us grants, donated supplies, food, and volunteer staff, and this has allowed us to continue to grow our work to match our mission.

Values 

· Provide a Safe, Warm Place to Rest Overnight 

· Giving Hope to the Homeless

· Treat Everyone with Dignity and Respect

· Non-Judgmental

· Working together with our Community, Businesses, and Local Government

· We Value our Partnerships 

· We are a Non-Denominational, and Faith-Based Organization

Our  STORY

We have just finished our fifth winter as Enfield Safe Harbor Warming Center, providing immediate, overnight shelter, for homeless and heatless individuals and families. At present, our non-profit, parent corporation is People for People, and its active subsidiary, doing the work for the homeless, is the Enfield Safe Harbor Warming Center.

By winter, 2019, the ESHWC opened 74 nights, growing from our first year of 5 guests to serving an average of 16 guests each night, during this past winter. We also had 30 overnight volunteers and five overnight paid staff. 

During the past five years, we have successfully run the center with the financial support of churches, businesses, individuals, and organizations, but each year we are challenged to insure that our funding can provide the basic needs of the people we serve. The hard work and generous spirit of our volunteers has made this possible.

 At the end of the 2021 Winter Season I would like to say that the model for our Outreach and Engagement Center was a SUCCESS above and beyond what I had envisioned. At the close of the O&E Center on March 31, 2021, we served a total of 70 guests and were able to connect most of our guests with housing resources which included accommodations at the Red Roof Inn here in Enfield which was managed under the direction of Community Health Resources Enfield office. Not only did we operate as Triage and Assessment on Sundays and Wednesdays we were also assisting with phone triage for those who were unable to access the O&E Center.
We were also able to supply much needed items as well as conversation to our guests. Attendance was consistent even though some evenings were slow at times. One evening we had a woman come into the O&E Center in tears seeking a peaceful refuge after a family disagreement. She said she stopped in because she saw the lights on. As I sat and spoke with her she said that she apologized for coming because she was not homeless and just needed to vent. I told her that our mission is to serve and comfort ALL who are in need. We also had one of our male guests who’s mode of transportation was an RV pile in others from the Red Roof Inn who wanted to come to the center so they would not have to walk. Not only was it humorous it was also heartwarming to see them helping each other out during these trying times. *** Please see the information below.

The O&E Center was also able to assist Pat Sulik, Director of the North Central District Health Department with their plans to administer COVID-19 Vaccines to the homeless who were staying at the Red Roof Inn as well as in our community. The O&E Center was able to reach out to the homeless and coordinate appointments for anyone who wanted to be vaccinated. Pat was fortunate enough to have doses of the J&J vaccine available for them specifically and I am glad to say that we had about 10 out of the 20 guests at the hotel vaccinated including 3 who were not at the hotel but either couch surfing, sleeping in their car or outdoors.
The O&E Center was also instrumental in making sure that the guests at the Red Roof received their hot meal from Loaves and Fishes every evening by dropping it off to them. Thank you to Lorraine Creedon for assisting on Wednesday evenings with the hot meal drop off! Our volunteer base dwindled down to 8 by the end of the season however, we were still able to do what we needed to do every evening that we were open. Each night not only did committed volunteers serve our guests but they also helped to sort clothes, put together care bags, assist with clean up and sanitizing, donating items to our guests and keeping everything in order faithfully!