DAY CENTER

In December, City Mission in collaboration with St. Andrews UMC, and other Findlay area churches and agencies, partnered to start a day shelter for those who are homeless or have no place to go during the day. City Mission has been primarily a night shelter for over 77 years, but this new service opportunity provides shelter during the hours of 8 am to 3 pm seven days a week.  It offers coffee, doughnuts, a noon meal, and most importantly an environment where homeless guests can feel safe and receive additional help through classes and programming to help end their homeless issues. Bible studies and spiritual guidance are also available to everyone.

The Day Center aims to foster the achievement of life goals and provide for spiritual growth. We are working toward that goal through the utilization of volunteers who teach computer skills, help prepare resumes, assist in the completion of job applications or online job-searches, and conduct practice interviews. To aid in the achievement of these goals, the Day Center has added an extra phone and computers with Internet that guests can use to help end their homelessness as soon as possible. Donors have also generously given books and DVDs, many of which are inspirational or Christian in nature, to provide encouragement and support to those in need, as well as a flat screen TV, games and puzzles, which the guests enjoy using. 

Currently, the Day Center is in a trial period, running from December until the end of March. This trial period has been designed to assess the needs of the community, with the hope of creating a permanent day center in the fall of 2012 in a location that will be the most accessible to all. The Center greeted 47 individual guests throughout the month of December, with the expectation that news of this new service will spread and the number of guests will increase. In addition, as the weather gets colder, the Day Center will provide shelter for even more guests.

The Day Center at City Mission is also working cooperatively with Century Health's own day center, Focus on Friends, and transports guests to that facility on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for lunch and other activities. Typically, 6-10 guests from City Mission go to Focus on Friends on these days and seem to greatly enjoy the biweekly trips. 

City Mission is pleased to introduce Clara Harrod and Jessica Utrup, our newest staff, who have been added to handle the Day Center’s operational needs.