Food + Shelter + Job = Hope

Note: This is the first in a 3-part series from Rich Schaus, UGM Director of the Crisis Shelter for Women & Children.

In 1890, William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, looked around his beloved England and saw darkness, hopelessness, poverty, confusion and destruction.

His heart, connected to the heart of God, developed a plan to reach those in darkness. It was a simple but challenging strategy: Give people shelter, food and jobs, along with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the 1950s, a Catholic priest put the same strategy into place in France – providing food, shelter and jobs to the homeless in Paris. Soon, there were not enough homeless to do the work that had been developed, and France started to recruit homeless men and women from other countries.

A study completed last year showed that if a woman can earn at least 50% of her income through legitimate employment, she will be stably housed.

At the UGM Crisis Shelter for Women and Children, we have developed a job training program; we encourage women to look for jobs; and we teach them a system of looking for work. Then, we celebrate when they get an interview or actually get the job.

Yes, we provide food and shelter to give them stability as they look. However, what is really important is that we believe in them – even when family, friends, doctors, lawyers and social workers may not. We believe in their potential, and we believe in a loving God who can put that potential to work.

~ Rich Schaus, Director of the UGM Crisis Shelter for Women & Children