December 2010 thru March 2011

WARM is a sheltering program of the faith community in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Its purpose is to provide a warm, dry, and safe place for men, women, and children to sleep during the cold weather months of November through March.

Program Features:

1. Shelter provided by congregations of the faith community in St. Mary’s County.

2. Site location will rotate among participating sites for one week at a time.

3. Goal is to have no one site provide shelter for more than 2-3 weeks total per sheltering season (depending on number of host sites).

4. Maximum number of clients served per night is 20.

5. Cots and bedding will be supplied.

6. A minimum of two monitors (one male, one female) eighteen years or older, per site each night, will be needed. Preferably these will come from the host sites.

7. Hours of operation will be 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 a.m.

8. All clients must arrive at the site promptly at starting time, bringing only one bag of possessions with them.

9. All clients must vacate the premises promptly by closing time, taking their possessions with them.

10. Clients must apply to enter the program each cold weather season. Only approved individuals are eligible for shelter.

11. Each applicant will be screened to ensure the safety of all people on site.

12. Each client will reserve space on a first come first served basis through Three Oaks Center.

13. Only clients, who have reservations, will be permitted access to the shelter site.

14. Dinner and Breakfast will be served to each client. Some sites may also provide a bag/box lunch to be taken off-site. Meals will be provided and served by a variety of host sites, community volunteers, and other participating congregations.

15. There will be a designated coordinator “on call” each night that can come in and deal with special issues / circumstances that arise.

16. Arrangements will be made with local law enforcement to provide drive-by checks at each host site.

17. Training for host sites and monitors will be provided by the WARM program.

18. Each host site is responsible for arranging the movement of supplies (e.g. cots, etc.) to next host site and the cleaning of bedding.

19. Two sets of bedding will be maintained. One set in use during the week and one set being prepared to be used the following week.

20. The client is responsible for transportation to and from each host site. There will be an attempt to provide STS passes.

21. St. Mary’s County Public Schools will provide transportation for school aged children.
    

Our Needs:

Opportunities for Individuals:

• Site Monitors who will spend the evening/night providing supervision so that the site will remain safe and secure.

• Meal Preparation, provide hot dinner and breakfast for the participants each day.

• Serving Meals, assist in serving the two meals each day.

• Leadership Team who will provide guidance and direction to the program.

• Clean and prepare site.

• Share information about this program with your religious leader and others.

Opportunities for Congregations:

• Be a “Host Site” that provides space for up to twenty people to sleep for two one-week periods during the winter season.

• Provide a congregational representative to the leadership team.

• Prepare and serve meals, as a congregation, at a site.

• Help with the transportation of supplies from one site to the next.

• Clean linens for a subsequent site.

Opportunities for Giving:

• WARM will need $4,000 to $10,000 in startup costs.

• Donate funds (make checks payable to WARM) to:
  WARM
  c/o Lexington Park United Methodist Church
  21760 Great Mills Road
  Lexington Park, MD 20653-3801

For more information contact:
Pastor Ken Walker - 301.863.8500 - pastorkenw@mindspring.com