IHN News & Events

INDEX

• 14th Anniversary Dinner Celebration photos  New!
• Network News - Dec 2007 (245KB - PDF)
• Second Circle on the Web
• Network News - Dec 2006 (648KB - PDF)
• Post-Gazette article October 5, 2006
• Aid Group Fighting For Home
• 12th Anniversary Dinner 'Sir Laffsalot'
• ALMANAC article - September 2005
• 11th Anniversary photos
• 10th Anniversary Dinner a great success
• Charity 'prayerfully optimistic' that donations will rise
• Post-Gazette article
• Observer-Reporter article
• Homeless news articles (off-site)

2002 Census results...US poverty rate rises again

• U.S. household incomes declined for the third year in a row

• The poverty rate rose from 11.7% to 12.1%

• 34.6 million Americans lived in poverty, with 12.1 million of those being children (16.7% of all kids)

IHN's Second Circle on the Web

CRAFTON, PA - August 2007

Sarah Clark recently completed construction of a website for the IHN Second Circle in Crafton, PA. Stop by to see photos of the beautifully refurbished Family Center!

Click here: IHN Second Circle Website

Panel won't OK plan for center for families in distress

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Aid Group Fighting For Home

Sunday, September 17, 2006
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For 12 years, the Interfaith Hospitality Network has been serving homeless families in Washington County by providing temporary shelter in churches and connecting them with social services that help them get back to independent living.

IHN has long recognized a need for its services in southern Allegheny County and wants to start a network in the area, Executive Director Susan Donnan said.

But a zoning conflict and opposition from people in Pleasant Hills could put a hold on a proposal by the network to open a family day center in a house owned by the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church at 36 Audrey Drive.

The day center would not provide housing, but would be a place for families to spend their days as they search for jobs and housing, and where they can obtain transportation to jobs or schools, Mrs. Donnan said.

There would be a full-time social worker at the center who would help the families find permanent housing. The families would be able to use the shower facilities at the home.

The property would have to be rezoned from residential to public use, which recognizes such facilities as churches, schools, libraries and government buildings. The rest of the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church property is zoned public.

In order to get the zoning change, however, the church needs an exemption from the municipal requirement that parcels be no smaller than 1 acre, said Paul Kueser, chairman of the Pleasant Hills planning commission.

"The neighbors are very concerned because they feel it will lower their property values because there are homeless people that would be brought to our borough," Mr. Kueser said.

The planning commission is expected to make its recommendation after a hearing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The hearing is a continuation of one that started Aug. 22, when neighbors complained about the possible devaluation of their homes.

Also at the Aug. 22 meeting, a school principal questioned whether the district would be able to check the disciplinary backgrounds of the children, as they are homeless.

In an interview last week, Terry Kinavey, assistant to the superintendent of the West Jefferson Hills School District, said the district recognized its res-ponsibility to accept homeless pupils, but that it hoped it could work with the network to get advance notice of how many pupils and when they would arrive in the district.

That will allow district officials to plan for them and to apply for federal funds, Mrs. Kinavey said.

The planning commission recommendation will go to the borough council, which will decide on the exemption needed for the zoning change.

"Our desire and interest is to do things that will be enhancing. We are not trying to slip something through in the community that will be risky or an unsafe kind of thing," said the Rev. Paul Thwaite, associate pastor of Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Thwaite and Mrs. Donnan will use the Tuesday meeting to try to convince neighbors and school officials that the day center won't create problems for the community.

Mr. Thwaite said he believed the church should receive the exemption since the house's one-third acre parcel is connected to the rest of the church's property, which is several acres.

Mr. Thwaite and Mrs. Donnan pointed out that IHN is set apart from other agencies that help the homeless because it keeps entire families together. Most shelters operate for men only or for women and children only.

"IHN gives families the opportunity to go through homelessness without being split up," Mr. Thwaite said.

The Interfaith Hospitality Network is a national organization with 130 individual networks across the country, Mrs. Donnan said. The one operating in Washington County was the 14th to organize nationally.

In Washington County, the family day center operates out of a home next to the campus of Washington and Jefferson College.

Without a similar day center, there can be no program in southern Allegheny County, Mrs. Donnan said.

"We have been trying to find a family center for a couple of years. We have received grant money and we are ready to go."

Mrs. Donnan said the network had considered a building owned by a Baptist church in Crafton, but that it was too far from the churches that are willing to shelter the families. The churches provide supper, night lodging and breakfast each day, along with transportation back to the day center.

Mrs. Donnan said the network already has churches in southern Allegheny County that house homeless families, including Southminster Presbyterian Church in Mt. Lebanon and John McMillan Presbyterian and Hamilton Presbyterian churches in Bethel Park. Churches in Peters help with the effort as well, she said.

"One of the reasons we want a program in the South Hills is so churches don't have to travel too far," she said.

Mrs. Donnan said most of the children in the program have been under age 5, so the number of children placed in the West Jefferson Hills schools is expected to be small. She said the network checks the backgrounds of families.

"We do police checks and we can do drug and alcohol checks. We would find out about criminal problems and we would not let them into the program," she said.

IHN limits the number of people it will help in a network to 14, or about four families, Mrs. Donnan said. Families stay with the network for periods ranging from one week to several months. Annually, the network in Washington County serves 25 to 30 families. Their cases are reviewed every 30 days, and the families have to work toward getting their own residence, Mrs. Donnan said.

"Most of them want to stay as short a time as possible," she said.

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ALMANAC article
September 23, 2005

Struggling Families Find Support When Needed Most

by Lorraine Gregus, Columnist
September 23, 2005

As major disasters occur such as floods and tornadoes, causing countless folks to relocate or rebuild their lives, we recognize the need and are quick to help.
   
But when our lifestyles are running smoothly, we tend to forget that in communities everywhere there are folks who have fallen on hard times.
  
The Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), with its family center in Washington, Pa., is a network of churches working together to provide shelter and hospitality to homeless families. IHN also helps to secure job training and employment and meet most health needs.
  
Owned and maintained by the Church of the Covenant, for 12 years the house adjacent to the church has provided IHN with a homelike setting for families who have come upon difficult times.
  
The crisis of homelessness is worldwide. It can occur through job loss, illness, loss of property through fire or floods or other extreme hardships. And most importantly, it can happen to any one of us.
   
The IHN program helps resolve issues that contributed to each family’s homelessness.
  
Its primary goal is to ensure that families move into adequate housing and are able to sustain their independence.
  
The St. Vincent de Paul Society, through its association with St. Thomas More Church in Bethel Park, is quick to round up furniture and household necessities to help rebuild the lives of those cared for at the family center.
  
By networking throughout the South Hills, care and assistance helps to get those in need back on their feet. By reaching into community resources, overnight lodging and meals are made available through churches and volunteers.
  
Agencies offer referrals and counseling on nutrition, parenting and budget management. And caring individuals often donate cars for those needing transportation.
  
By coordinating with the IHN staff, church groups provide sleeping accommodations and meals for families, even infants. At 5 p.m. each day the center’s van takes IHN guests to their host churches. Congregations take turns caring for the impoverished for one week. Individual families then move to another church.
  
Families find refuge at the center from a couple weeks to a couple months. An average stay is 45 days.
  
Action is taken to secure incomes, find homes and to resolve problems through human service agencies.
  
“We receive five or six calls a day from families in crisis, mostly from Allegheny County” said Susan Donnan, executive director. “We only have room for 14 individuals at a time. If the center is full, we offer information on other shelters and agencies.
  
“If another house or building could be found in the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon-Baldwin area, we could start another day center. The Second Circle shelter would operate closer to the churches who are already sponsors.
  
“I knew I needed help caring for my my wife and young daughter so I called Catholic Charities,” said Tom. “They put me in contact with IHS. The folks here at the family center took us in, provided a place to spend our days, to shower and do our laundry. We have dinner and sleep at one of the host churches. In a little over two weeks IHN found me a van to replace my car which was falling apart. They also paid the security deposit on an apartment my family will be moving into soon.”
  
Fashion Show fundraiser
• Fashion shows to support the family shelter will be held at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 1 at Christ U.M. Church, Bethel Park and at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Julian’s, Washington. “Weekenders” coordinates will be featured. Tickets are $10. Call 724-229-1129
  
Host churches
  
By linking with Interfaith Hospitality Network, the following churches provide help for the homeless.
  
They include Bethel Presbyterian, Canonsburg U.P., Christ U.M., Church of the Covenant, Emmanuel U.P., First U.M., Hamilton Presbyterian, Monongahela First Presbyterian, Peters Creek Presbyterian, St. Benedict the Abbot, Southminster Presbyterian, John McMillan Presbyterian and Thomas Presbyterian.

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Charity 'prayerfully optimistic' that donations will rise

BY CHRISTIE CAMPBELL
THE OBSERVER-REPORTER
December 19, 2002

(WEBMASTER'S NOTE: This will mean a decrease of $16,000 to $20,000 in funding for IHN in Washington, Pennsylvania during 2003)

Local charities are expecting to receive fewer gifts this Christmas.

Charities in Washington County are reporting that donations are down, forcing many to re-evaluate their 2003 programming.

In addition, six agencies that receive emergency federal funding learned Wednesday that that money will not be forthcoming next year. The Federal Emergency Management Agency last year gave the county $117,000 to provide emergency food and shelter.

The decrease in local giving reflects a national trend attributable to a soft economy that has left many people with less discretionary income and stocks that have depreciated.

The most visible holiday fund-raiser, the Salvation Army's red kettle campaign, is short $10,000.

With six fewer shopping days this holiday season, Salvation Army Maj. Chuck Thomas said the agency is not expected to meet its goal of $40,000.

"The kettle campaign is such a large amount of our giving," he said, noting that most of the money raised stays in the local area.

Giving to the United Way of Washington County also has decreased.

"I don't have an optimistic outlook on our campaign," said William McCready, president of the United Way of Washington County.

The United Way funds 33 human service agencies and 56 programs in the county. Its campaign ends in February.

Giving to the Washington City Mission was "soft" during October and November said Rick Futrell, the mission's executive director.

"We are about 30 percent below our budget," he said. "We're prayerfully optimistic that December will be a strong month for us."

As giving goes down, need rises. At the City Mission, an average of 13 or 14 men has been sleeping on the floor of the chapel every night since September. There has also been an increase in the shelter's guest feeding program.

Last year's FEMA allocation provided money to Washington County Food Bank, Community Action Southwest, Washington Christian Outreach, Salvation Army, Interfaith Hospitality Network and CONNECT Inc. Catholic Charities administers the program.

The money allows the agencies to provide emergency money for people who are on the verge of losing their home because they need help with rent or utility payments or who need food or emergency shelter.

In spite of the outlook, those involved with human services said they have faced similar challenges in the past and their work will go on.

"I think historically when times get tough there is a short lull when giving doesn't quite catch up. But eventually people see the pain and they meet that pain," said Futrell. "We still live in a generous community with generous people who care about their neighbors."

"It would be nice if there was more money," said McCready. "But I tell people, even when we don't make goals we still fund a lot of programs and still help a lot of people."

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Post-Gazette article
March 4, 2002

Interfaith networks give homeless families shelter, food and hope on rotating basis

By Mackenzie Carpenter
Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Amy Johnson watches her 2-year-old, Braden, as he cheerfully pushes a yellow truck across the carpet in the cozy sitting room, and then her eyes brim with tears.

"I've made some bad choices, some bad mistakes," she declares. "And I'm not going to make them again. This is enough for me and my kids to go through."

"This" is homelessness.

Johnson, who is 25 but looks like a frail, pale 15-year-old, has no money and no place to live. She is a single mother to three children, ages 4, 3 and 2. Their father is living in another county, trying, in Johnson's words, "to get his stuff together."

But for now, her children are well-fed and clothed, with comfortable beds to sleep on and plenty of grown-ups around to spoil them.

For the past two months, Johnson and her children have been "guests" of the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a national, nonprofit consortium of churches with a local branch headquartered in Washington County. A second network is operated by the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches in Natrona Heights.

Begun in 1986, the national program comprises more than 2,000 congregations and 70,000 volunteers, who help participating churches in each network host homeless families for a week at a time, on a rotating basis.

That means every seven days, beds and other furniture are packed into a trailer and moved from church to church, where new, private temporary bedrooms and living quarters are set up for the homeless guests, most of whom are single mothers and their children. To keep numbers manageable, most programs host no more than four families or 14 people at a time.

Almost everything is donated, from the suppers that are cooked by volunteers each night to the cars and vans that are used to ferry people about and, in some cases, lent to those searching for jobs.

In the Washington network, eight churches from Allegheny and Washington counties participate. Most are Presbyterian, but two are Methodist, one is Catholic and several members of the Temple Emanuel Synagogue also are involved.

"It's designed to increase the community's understanding of the problems of the homeless by having volunteers in churches work directly with them, instead of just writing a check to have someone else do it," said Susan Donnan, the program's director.

From Sunday to Sunday, a host church provides supper, lodging at night and breakfast the next day. Each morning at 7 a.m. church volunteers drive the families to the network's headquarters and family center, a renovated former private home next door to Washington and Jefferson College on one of the main roads into downtown Washington, Pa.

From there, children go to school or child care, and parents may go to jobs, job training programs or parenting classes, or use the center to do laundry and conduct searches for jobs or housing by phone. At 5 p.m., they are transported back to the host church for supper, family time and sleep.

By using existing facilities -- church basements or Sunday School classrooms that are already heated and lit -- the cost of running the program is minimal. The national organization estimates that the average cost of operation is about $13.50 a day per person. The Washington branch doesn't break down the numbers that way, but says its annual costs come to about $100,000, not counting another $200,000 in in-kind or volunteer services.

The program can't meet all the needs that are out there, however. The 14-person limit in the network is just a drop in the bucket, given that a head count a year ago in Washington County found that 240 people were in shelters, a figure that officials say is an underestimate.

About 60 percent of the homeless population -- those with drug and alcohol problems or severe mental illness or a criminal record -- aren't covered by the interfaith network of shelters, whose volunteers lack the expertise to handle such complicated cases. Instead, they take people who may have had such problems in the past but who are in recovery.

They are people who, through a combination of circumstances, find themselves in a difficult place, Donnan said.

"Homelessness is a situation, not a trait of the person. But so many people are so wary of that word 'homeless.' That adjective really gets in the way. Our volunteers learn, though, that these are people just like them, like an older couple, both working full time at a fast-food restaurant, who couldn't afford to pay a deposit and utilities for an apartment, so they came to stay with us until they found a more affordable place."

The network's emphasis on homeless families separates it from many traditional shelters, which tend to segregate their larger and harder-core population by sex in dormitory-style living and limit children under a certain age. Many shelters also limit stays to 30 days, while the network allows stays of up to three months.

Rotating each week from church to church allows the hosts "to offer more than just shelter," Donnan said. "By definition, hospitality is the offering of a pleasant and sustaining environment, and our volunteers work hard to provide that."

"The relationship is different," said Dottie Rieber, coordinator of the program for Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park. "We tell our volunteers to treat people as you would a guest. We aren't baby sitters, but we also don't tell them what to do. We ask permission before walking into their rooms, things like that."

Sometimes, though, volunteers are shocked to discover that their "guests" don't really want to be there.

"Some people have trouble accepting help. We have a lot of success stories, but there are some people who walk away, leaving us frustrated," Rieber said, recalling a single father with two small children who had lost his job and had come to the network for help. "He seemed so wonderful, and his kids were so darling, but one day, he just disappeared. It was really disappointing."

Such a "mobile" homeless program requires at least 56 volunteers per church, at least eight people for each day of the week, including two who stay overnight. That kind of commitment can be difficult to sustain, said Karen Snair, who runs the Natrona Heights program for the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches.

One church recently dropped out, "because a lot of their parishioners had gotten older and the volunteer base was dwindling. A lot of people were spending their winters in Florida. They just couldn't get the numbers of people they needed to help."

The network is always trying to attract more churches, especially in the Pittsburgh area, but it has found it difficult to expand its reach beyond mainline Protestant churches, Snair said.

"Usually, the independent churches do their own programs and prefer not to be involved with ours," said Snair, who noted that the network accepted people "regardless of their religion -- or even if they have no religion."

George Lang, administrator and assistant pastor at Grace Church of the South Hills, an independent denomination, said his church was no longer involved with the program. "Our members are very anxious to share their faith, very eager to talk about Jesus," and the network's prohibition against evangelizing caused some problems, he said.

The church also was uncomfortable with the network's policy of permitting common law husbands and wives to share quarters together.

"We did object to that," Lang said. "That's just not our policy."

Jerry Sherman, coordinator of the interfaith hospitality program at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Mt. Lebanon, said the network discouraged evangelizing "because these people are coming in at a very vulnerable time for them, and we don't want to pressure them to make any decisions. If some church events or services are going on, we certainly welcome them if they want to attend. But even if they're atheists, they're still welcome. We just want to help them get on their feet again."

Johnson is trying to do that, but it's not easy.

She is in ill health and said she is unable to work. While she receives $200 twice a month in public assistance, it isn't enough to live on; most rents start at $400 a month in Washington, not including utilities. She has been placed, with help from the network, on a waiting list for subsidized housing.

Seated on a couch in the family center's upstairs playroom, Johnson said she was grateful for the help provided by the network, but found the constant moving about to be exhausting. She leaves the host church at 7 each morning, returns at 5 each evening, and moves to a new church each week.

"You never get used to it," she said. "I can never relax. I'm always getting the kids somewhere, on a bus, on a van, off a van. And it's hard to be up for people. You might not be up for talking, but you have to."

What does she hope to be doing in five years?

She pauses for a minute, as though the question had never occurred to her. In her day-to-day existence, five years is a long time. "I'd like to be working as a clerk at a store or as a waitress, I guess. I know the pay isn't good, but waitresses get tips.

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Observer-Reporter article
February 26, 2002

Network of churches puts out welcome mat for people needing shelter

BY CHRISTIE CAMPBELL
THE OBSERVER-REPORTER

The look of determination on the face of Cathy Daniels says it all.

"This is my first time being homeless, and it's going to be my last," she said.

The Pittsburgh woman and her two children have spent the last several months sleeping in the basements or Sunday school rooms of area churches. Under the umbrella of the Interfaith Hospitality Network of the South Hills, Daniels' family has been sheltered and fed after she abruptly left an unsafe domestic situation with little more than the clothes on her back.

By day, Daniels' children attend school. At night, they are taken from IHN's day center to one of nine host churches, where they will have dinner and spend the night.

Although Daniels never will feel that the churches she and her two children have slept in are home, she is grateful they have opened their doors to her.

"When it's time for me to go home, I'll take every church with me," she said.

In its seventh year of operation, the hospitality network allows congregations to put their faith into action. The one-on-one interaction helps give the homeless a face.

"There are a lot of assumptions and generalities made about homeless people," said Susan Donnan, IHN's executive director.

A lack of affordable housing is the main reason families are homeless. IHN has sheltered people who are working but whose paychecks do not cover the cost of monthly rent, especially when a health problem occurs or a car is in need of repair.

IHN can take up to four families or 14 people at a time. Clients of the program are screened for criminal backgrounds, drug or alcohol problems and unstable mental health conditions.

"When we first started out, churches were very apprehensive," Donnan said. "Now, we're at an advantage because we've been here seven years and haven't had the problems people were fearful of."

In addition to shelter, IHN provides other services, such as helping clients find sources of income and deal with health issues, as well as follow-up care after they leave the program. The local program has helped an estimated 500 people since its inception.

"It's very important to us that they remain self-reliant," Donnan said.

Donnan hopes to encourage other Washington County churches to become involved in the network. The program could use church involvement in Greene County, too. Any number of volunteers can be used. One church in the network has a membership of 3,500, while another one has about 100 members.

Nationally, IHN began nearly 20 years ago when a New Jersey woman wanted to do something to help the homeless and sought help from her congregation. Today, there are more than 80,000 volunteers in 80 hospitality networks across the United States.

IHN moved into its new family center at 297 E. Beau St. in Washington in January. A group of volunteers renovated the turn-of-the-century building owned by the Church of the Covenant (Presbyterian USA) for office and living space while retaining amenities such as stained glass windows and wooden ceiling beams.

A $10,000 grant from Washington Federal Savings Bank helped make the renovations possible.

SUSAN DONNAN is available to speak to groups about IHN. She can be reached at 724 229-1129. The program's Web site is www.homelessfamilies.org  

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