Room in the Inn: Volunteers Needed!

Grace Covenant will host Room in the Inn, the mobile shelter for homeless women, the week after Christmas, from 12/25 -1/1.  What a great week to be a "room in the inn"! We're planning to let the women sleep late and stay at our church all day on New Year's if they want to so we'll invite them to worship with us, but also need  volunteers to take 2-hr shifts from 8-10 a.m., 10-12, 12-2, and 2-4 p.m. on Sun., New Year's to host the women during the day when everything will be closed to them downtown.

Volunteer opportunities:

• Two overnight hosts to spend each night at church. This means be awake for a 2hr. shift during the night with 3 other volunteers taking a 2-hr shift while the women sleep safely in the fellowship hall.
• Breakfast for the women Mon. - Sun. while they are with us. (It would be great to have a hot New Year's Day breakfast Sun. morning if anyone is up for coming in to do that!)
• Music, bingo, a favorite movie, make-up, cookie-baking, or something with the women that you or your family might enjoy for an hour one evening during the week  or on New Year's Day.
• Money for us to buy bus passes for the women.  They very much love and need this.
• Help and creative ideas setting up the fellowship hall for the women to arrive Christmas evening with perhaps a small gift, or chocolate on their pillow.  This will be after church on Christmas Day.
• Help loading mattresses and cleaning up on New Year's afternoon after the women leave around 4 p.m. to go on to the next church.

We're also thinking about the women making "stone" soup in the evenings during the week to maybe take to other homeless folks on New Year's Day or to the OCCUPY ASHEVILLE folks on New Year's Eve.

All of these things are in the planning stage and depend a lot on what we can get help with and on what our guests will be up for.  Please sign up in the narthex and give us other suggestions!  Talk to Susan Presson (255-9588) or Terri Carr (937-609-7197) with questions and ideas.