HOME (Housing Outreach Multifaith Empowerment) [formerly IHN] is an interfaith group of churches and temples here in Somerset County that houses the homeless. Each week that a church hosts a HOME week it takes about 60 volunteers to make the week a warm and welcoming success for the 14 homeless clients. From setting up beds, making meals, welcoming, and overseeing the HOME hours and a number of other jobs, volunteers are needed to make this happen.
Presently our HOME overnight program is housed down the street in our neighborhood at the Hillsborough Reformed Church. St. Joseph shares all responsibilities with the Hillsborough Reformed Church.
Click HERE to learn more about the Somerset County HOME Program.
HOME basically works like this:
The homeless families are hosted on a rotating schedule on the premises of one of the sponsoring churches. Bringing only some very modest belongings, the family “moves in” on a Sunday, and stays the week until they are moved to the next church location the following Sunday (or until they are successfully moved into their own accommodations). During the week at any of the sponsoring locations, they are bussed each morning at 7 a.m. to various places such as school, preschool, jobs, or training sites at the IHN offices in Somerville. They are fed during the day at their various day sites and upon arrival back at the host church at 6 p.m., are greeted by volunteer hosts and hostesses from the sponsoring church, along with a warm dinner, usually prepared by other volunteers from the church.
Volunteer opportunities include:
Adult Greeters: people to greet the clients and stay with them from 6-9 pm
Cooks: cook dinner or dessert in your home then delivered by 6 pm to the HR church
Overnight Hosts: people stay 1 night overnight from 9pm to 6am. You may sleep on the job on a cot!
Miscellaneous Jobs: driver of the truck, pick-up of linens from Somerset Medical Center, clean up, oversee confirmation students, purchase food, to name a few. All volunteer opportunities are for one evening of one week unless you choose to sign up for more than one evening’s job.
Want to help out or observe?
To help out you may contact one of the following Coordinators
Tina Androulakis ~ Tina@androulakis.com
Victor Fung VFung@sjmillstone.com
Purpose: To assist HOME in their Emergency Shelter program, which shelters homeless families who are on their way to achieving and maintaining independence.
Time Commitment: A few hours, every other month. Evening greeters will spend time with the fam-ilies to help them settle in, play with the children and socialize with the parents. Cooks will provide the evening meal for the families, usually feeding around 10-15 people. Overnight hosts will sleep at the hosting facility from 9 PM to 6 AM.
Qualifications: A willingness to help
Virtus Training & Background Check: Required
