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Would you like to
get involved with the local community? Want to make a
difference in the life of a neighbor in need? Here's your
opportunity!
The Naval
Postgraduate School Command Religious Program is beginning a
partnership with the Interfaith-Homeless Emergency Lodging
Program (I-HELP) to provide interested students, faculty, staff and
family members an opportunity to serve the homeless community in
our area. I-HELP provides "a compassionate community response
to the need for shelter for homeless men in Monterey
County…I-HELP is a program for homeless men, providing shelter,
meals and guidance as they work toward their goal of
self-sufficiency.”
Over 60
congregations participate in I-HELP by opening their doors to
host the program one night every other month and/or providing a meal
for 24 men. This is how the program works. Every night around 1700 the
I-HELP van picks up approximately 25 men in the parking lot
across from the NPS Del Monte gate and takes them to a local
house of worship (a different one each night). There dinner is
prepared and served to them and they can spend the night. The
men eat breakfast in the church the next morning and then are given a brown bag
lunch and taken to their jobs or other locations for the day.
Here’s where we
come in: On the second Saturday of every other month,
volunteers from NPS will prepare and serve either supper or a
brown-bag breakfast and lunch to the men in the I-HELP program
at Sanctuary Bible Church in Carmel Valley.
We’ll continue to alternate lunch delivery and dinner
preparation on the second Saturday of every other month. At
this time, the second Sunday of the month is the only time that I-HELP does not have a
group committed to providing meals.
What we need:
Dedicated volunteers willing to spend 4 hours every other month to
help prepare the meals, serve them to the men, and interact on a
personal basis with fellow human beings in need of friendship
and support.
This is a
tremendous opportunity to work with an expert organization that truly impact lives.
To volunteer to
help, or with questions, please contact CDR Mary Blankenship or call
the Chaplain's office for more information.
For more
information on I-HELP, or their parent organization Shelter
Outreach Plus, visit them on the web at http://www.shelteroutreachplus.org/men.htm.
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