Refuge Houses County’s Homeless
Volunteers celebrated and needed

January 31, 2006. Lapeer, MI. Seeing the homeless families is the saddest part for Greg Harper.

The 52-year-old North Branch resident is one of about 500 volunteers throughout Lapeer County who participate in The Refuge, an organization that helps house homeless people during the winter season. Intake volunteers and Refuge operational members were honored at a dinner Monday night at MapleGrove Church, 148 Maple Grove Road in Lapeer. Food was catered by the church and E.G. Nicks of Lapeer.

“The hardest part is when they have kids,” Harper said, remembering the times when he met a father and a son, and a mother with two kids in need of shelter.

Starting in the fall of 2001, the Refuge season runs from Thanksgiving until the first week of April. The process starts each day from 4-6:30 pm. At Refuge’s intake, a rented house at 222 Saginaw St. in Lapeer, where up to 15 residents can be cared for. “They get padded down, perform a breathalyzer and we go over any medication they have,” said Bob Archambeau, 47, of Lapeer, who has volunteered with his wife, Holly, since its beginning.

After the screening process, guests can shower. At 6:30 pm., transportation arrives and takes them to the host church for the week. The church supplies dinner and housing for each guest, and breakfast in the morning. At 8:am, they are transported back to the intake location to pick up their belongings before returning to their daily lives. Some churches donate Food Certificates and clothes while volunteers offer guided assistance to each person.

“You can get real close around these people,” said Bob, who was around to see the Refuge’s first guest at Country Christian Church in North Branch. “It was a calling to help the homeless. I enjoy it.”

Host churches this season include: Immaculate Conception, St. Matthews, Trinity United Methodist, Grace Episcopal, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, New Hope Missionary, St. Paul Lutheran, First Presbyterian, and Calvary Bible in Lapeer; Country Christian in North Branch; Imlay City United Methodist in Imlay City; Zion/Capac United Methodist Parish in Capac; Dryden Ministerial in Dryden; and Attica United Methodist and New Life Christian in Attica. Lapeer Assembly of God in Lapeer -- partnering with Cross Community from Romeo, is also a host.

MapleGrove Church, the host of the volunteers’ dinner, also supports the Refuge. Pastor Gary Gillim  said he wants to find a more permanent home for the homeless men and women.  We want to help give them a permanent place,” he said. “We’d like to head toward that.

Each Church has their own host coordinator that makes sure the guests receive a meal and there are enough volunteers for each shift. At least three volunteers must be at the church at all times to make sure the program runs smoothly, said host site coordinator Debbie Boyne, of Lapeer.
“It’s very rewarding,” Boyne said. “Those who have participated have said how much they enjoy it.”

Alice Whittaker of Lapeer agrees. The Attica United Methodist church member and nurse, who grew up in Pontiac, she said she was no stranger to the plight of the homeless. After moving to Lapeer with her husband, Bill, she wanted to give back to the community during her spiritual and free time.

“I was looking through the paper and there was a first meeting about The Refuge,” she said. “It called to me. I went to the first meeting and have been involved ever since.”

Alice is currently on the leadership committee and is happy to be honored, calling it “something that fulfills you.”

According to a count conducted by the county’s housing coalition, there were about 69 homeless people in and out of the shelters throughout the county of 2005. This is the typical average, said Michelle Steiner, executive director of the United Way of Lapeer County, adding that this number is up to four times higher.

“The majority of the people we have here are what we call ‘couch surfers’” Steiner said, defining them as staying at others’ homes for periods of time. “If you ask them, they’ll say they’re not homeless.”

As a part of a Congress mandate which requires homeless counts to be surveyed every two years, coalition volunteers conducted one Jan. 25 but the numbers won’t be available for another couple of weeks.

Economic problems cause most homelessness. Steiner said “a spiraling effect” results from multiple problems like a lack of food and the need to pay for rent.

“It’s harder to overcome these problems if your working paycheck to paycheck,” she said.

Team leader Kendra Petty needs volunteers for intake duty on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. She is looking for people who are responsible and firm, but kind, and can be a team player.

“When guests come in, there the first ones to here about whatever has been bothering them,” Petty said.

“Unfortunately, they will have the job of dismissing somebody.”
While Harper has been on Intake duty for the past year, he took on the graveyard shift at Country Christian within the last three years. While keeping watch over the homeless from 3-6 am didn’t allow him to communicate much with the guest, it’s all part of being a Christian, he said.
“Were not looking down on people, but picking people up,” he said. “You do what you got to do.”

Petty said she would like to be able to pay guided assistants, who sit down with each guest and make sure they are moving in a positive direction in life. Finding a permanent intake site is also in the plans.

To volunteer contact Petty at (810) 441-9990.