Winter Shelter at Hickory Neck

Winter Shelter February 25-March 3, 2024

As Winter Shelter approaches, many hands will be needed to ensure that Hickory Neck meets its mission of providing for the homeless in our community. Volunteer jobs include preparation of the church for guests and reset at the end of the week, check-in and check-out of guests, security, roamers, laundry pick up, makeup of bedding bags, delivery of used bedding to laundry facility during the week, COFM trailer unloading and reloading, and trailer transportation to the next shelter site at Williamsburg Unitarian Universalist. The YMCA has partnered with COFM to offer showers on Tuesdays and Fridays, 6:00 a.m.-8:45 a.m., and a shower chaperone will be needed while the guests are present in the YMCA. Our families with youth can participate by packing lunches to be distributed as our guest check-out in the morning.
The Winter Shelter schedule will be broken into three shifts:
Shift 1 – 5:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m. includes check-in (temperature checks, masks), security, distribution of coffee/juice/water prior to dinner. An off-duty police/deputy will be on duty until 9:00 p.m.
Shift 2 – 9:00 p.m.-5:30 a.m. (includes overnight for a male and female volunteer). This shift can be divided into 9:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m.-5:30 a.m.
Shift 3 – 5:30 a.m.-8:00 a.m. Check-out, breakfast setup, distribution of bagged lunches.

Sign-up sheets will be available in the New Chapel between the 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. services. Cindee and Skip Steinhauser will be available to assist with sign-up and to answer questions. Once volunteers are identified, training sessions will be scheduled.