Monthly Archives: August 2010

Spotlight on DCEH Congregations:

Central Lutheran Church

Community is at the core of the work that Central Lutheran Church is doing to end homelessness because of how they understand living out their faith. Central not only reaches out to their surrounding community by providing services, such as meals and clothing, but has also created a community within their outreach ministries. Some who used to seek services at Central are now volunteering and giving back to the community that once helped them. Through a wide variety of direct service and advocacy work Central is helping to fill immediate needs in the community as well as to create long-term systemic change, all with the goal of ending homelessness.

The direct services at Central take place in the Restoration Center. Augsburg nursing students come once a week to provide basic medical care; they also run a weekly women’s group which provides a safe, welcoming place for conversation and community. Volunteers in the Clothes Closet sort donated clothing which is made available for free to those in need of a shirt or pair of shoes. People gather on Mondays for a morning worship service and to share a community meal. AA meetings happen weekly. Some financial assistance is also available for help with rent and other immediate needs. The Restoration Center also provides services focused on long-term solutions in the form of employment assistance, helping people to write resumes and look for jobs. Bob, head of the employment team, believes everyone who wants a job should have one and sometimes all it takes is a little help putting skills onto a paper resume for that to happen.

Advocacy at Central has grown over the past two years as more people stop by Sunday’s Take 5 tables, a DCEH program that allows people to advocate for causes related to homelessness and poverty, and become introduced to the idea of ending homelessness. The Heading Home Central team is made up of congregants in charge of initiating advocacy at Central Lutheran and the team is already gearing up for the next legislative session. Ann, chair of the team, is excited for the coming year and making the shift from being reactive advocates to more proactive advocates. Advocacy is a key piece of ending homelessness, and the advocates at Central are empowered and ready to show people what justice and ending homelessness looks like.

Rolf Lowenberg-DeBoer, director of Community Ministries at Central, believes in a three tiered approach to ending homelessness: education, direct service and advocacy. “In order to serve your community you need to know your community.” By knowing the community and educating the congregation about homelessness Central has driven home the idea that people have important immediate needs as well as long term needs and it is important to plan for those long term needs in a variety of ways by working for justice. Through their advocacy efforts and increased focus on long-term needs, Central is making the shift from providing charity and managing homelessness to ending homelessness in our community by addressing the barriers people encounter in order to support themselves. Together with the DCEH, Central is working to ensure that the whole community in which we live is healthy and vibrant and that everyone has access to safe, decent and affordable housing.