Dear Code Purple Team,
We are open for business! Last evening, we had 9 guests, 5 men and 4 women. Oh, wait let me tell you this miracle of a story!
We are very close to opening a women’s shelter here in the Cape Region, in fact right off Coastal Highway, as soon as this coming Friday December 8. God be praised! We are dotting “i” s and crossing “t” s at the moment.
We wanted to pick up both men and women on December 1 but as we didn’t have the women’s shelter open, we planned to take the women to the Code Purple Shelter in Milford. But at 3 PM yesterday we got a call from our friends at the Lewes Senior Center with an offer. They opened their hall to us during this week for the unsheltered women in our community. Wow, what a day of miracles. So last night we sheltered 4 women and expect at least 5-6 tonight.
Drivers
Our current logistics for the new shelter will be in effect immediately. We will pick up both men and women at the Walmart at 8:30PM every night and bring both back to the St Jude at roughly 9 PM. Both will check in and have an opportunity to get something to eat. At roughly 9:30PM we will move the women to the women’s shelter currently across Coastal Highway at the Senior Center and in less than a week at the new location down Coastal Highway. Stay tuned.
While we are at the Senior Center, please note that we cannot store any cots or duffle bags at the center, they will be stored for the day in the back of the bus. Intake Assistants please note if your guests were in the shelter the night before they already have their bedding in the bus, only new guests will need a duffel bag at check in.
The bus will be then returned to St Jude. In the morning we will leave St Jude at 7 AM, go to the Senior Center and leave there around 7:15 or so taking our guests to the Walmart again. The Community Resource Center is not open until December 11. When the new Women’s shelter is opened (roughly December 8) pick the women up there and move both to the CRC once opened.
Laundry this week
Typically, we have Laundry day on Tuesday every week. Intake Assistants will need to relabel Duffle bags on Tuesday night as everything is now clean. This coming week we will not have a laundry day as we only started on Friday so there will not be a need for relabeling on this Tuesday night, December 5, 2023. The first Laundry day will be Tuesday December 12, 2023.
Overnight Host (Women)
With the opening of the women’s shelter we need women to fill the Overnight Host (Women) role now open in signup.com.
To our Ladies of Code Purple that might consider the Overnight Host role please let us know your interest, even with some hesitancy, let us know. I will also be conducting a training night, potentially this week, potentially at the new shelter location, stay tuned. We have been very successful in filling the volunteer positions currently 57% filled for the entire season before adding the new Overnight Host (women) role which is a two-person role each night (210 new Opportunities). Below is the link to sign-up.
To our Gentlemen, we continue to have short term needs in the Overnight Host (Men) role, please consider signing up as well. If you are new to the role, contact me or one of the night captains and they will arrange for you to start with an experienced host. (Night Captains are listed in the Operations Manual Pg 5; manuals are available in the PLC at St Jude)
Food Ministry
A reminder to the intake Assistant Role as we begin the Hot Meal program tomorrow night.
Hot Meals will arrive every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Please be prepared to receive the Hot Meals at 8 PM at the PLC. If you have a conflict and cannot be at the PLC at 8 PM please contact your night captain. Meals can be reheated in the microwave oven.
The Power of Prayer
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are off to a wonderful start, thank you for your dedication to this important ministry. Prayerfully consider our open overnight roles including the new Overnight Host role for our women’s shelter. We will have more information coming soon about the training night for the women’s shelter (not the same as the men’s) and the opening of our women’s shelter, praise God! … right here in the Cape region in just a few days.
God Bless Our Ministry
Mike Agnew
Code Purple @ St Jude The Apostle
152 Tulip Dr
Lewes, DE 19958
O:(302) 644-7300
M:(215) 290 2689
codepurple@stjudelewes.org