Shelters

There are a number of good shelters to stay at in and around the city of Atlanta. As a campus community, we actively support three such shelters: Central Night Shelter for men, First Presbyterian Women’s Shelter, and Clifton Sanctuary Ministries for men. If you are interested in staying at any of these shelters (or another), you can find information below or links on the side. As always, feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

**If you’ve stayed at a shelter leave a comment below telling about your experience so others can have a glimpse of what it might be like. Thanks!!

CENTRAL NIGHT SHELTER
Columbia is signed up to stay at Central’s Night Shelter one night a month November through April. Each night we stay we need 6-8 people to go. The hours are from 6:30pm to 630am but are flexible if you need to come later. When you are there, someone from the group must be up at all times, so it is a great place to get homework done (they even have wireless set up). It’s also a great opportunity to meet some really nice men and have some really interesting conversations. Our dates for this academic year (2007-2008) are:

If you’re interested in staying or organizing a group of your friends to stay send me an e-mail and let me know. If none of these dates work for you, but you’d still like to go, we can work something out.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN’S SHELTER
The shelter for women at First Presbyterian Church is one of the nicest in the city. It is a long term shelter that houses up to twelve women at a time. Volunteering here involves going at 7:00pm to eat dinner with the women, helping clean-up the dishes, doing their laundry, locking up at night, unlocking the kitchen in the morning, and locking everything up before you leave at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. Volunteers have their own rooms, beds and bathroom and are encouraged to sleep through the night. Both men and women are welcome to stay. It is a great chance to get to know the women staying at the shelter. E-mails are sent out to the campus periodically with the dates we are staying. If you’re interested in more information, send me an e-mail.

CLIFTON NIGHT SHELTER
Clifton Night Shelter provides food, shelter and clothing to homeless men who are elderly, sick or disabled. More importantly, the shelter provides a place of community both for the men and the volunteers. The shelter is open 365 days a year and provides shelter for up to thirty men.

The shelter is in need of volunteers to spend the night with the men. Volunteering would involve arriving between 9:45 and 10pm, making sure breakfast is set for the morning, making sure the men all are in the building and the building is locked. The morning begins at 5:15am. Your responsibilities would involve laying out breakfast, staying while the clean-up crew straightens the shelter, and locking up once the bus leaves at 6:30am.