Last night and this morning I had the privilege to volunteer for a mobile shelter that rotates around some of the faith communities in Asheville. This program is called Room in The Inn (RITI), and is women’s shelter that operates out of Homeward Bound and A HOPE. This program houses about 12 women who start their evening with shelter at A HOPE, after it closes for the day, and then they get transported to the faith community that is hosting them for the week. After the overnight shift, some of the volunteers are in charge of taking them back to A HOPE each morning.
This week, the church I’ve been attending, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, was hosting them. I decided that I wanted to sign up for an overnight shift and see what it was like to volunteer for this program I’ve heard so much about. I wanted to experience the program outside of a work lens. The volunteer slot that I signed up for started Saturday at 6pm and ended Sunday at 7am. During that time, we serve dinner and have some sort of entertainment for them should they be interested in it. Then at 10pm it’s lights out for everyone and our night shifts start. There are 4 volunteers that serve 2 hour shifts from 10pm-12am, 12-2am, 2-4am, and 4-6am. The 4-6am shift has the added job setting up breakfast. I took the 2am-4am shift, which was bit tough, but I was happy to do. I was even able to get some reading done during my shift, which was great!
It was very nice spending time with the host women and with the RITI women. I learned a lot from listening to their thoughts and opinions on the world around us. I realize that this time of year has been very tense time with the elections. Everyone has their different views and opinions, but it was great to see a group of women of varying ages all connected by common interest. We were able to have a constructive conversation where everyone could be heard a valued. It was refreshing to have a conversation like this, as I have not had to much experience with this is larger group setting very often.Many of the other volunteers were astounded that someone who was doing a volunteer year, would take the time out to volunteer some more! I thought it was a great night, and I’m glad I took the time to help out and learn more about the program first hand.
As always, I could still use donations towards my year of service! Here is the link that you can use to donate online and help fund my year, so I can keep having opportunities for growth like this one.
Musings of a Wandering Presbyterian 
Leave a comment