Shelter Proposal
Our Services
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"Conquer yourself rather than the world."
--- Descartes

Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.
--- Titus 2:6
 
We believe our years of experience within this industry will help us answer all of your questions and take care of all of your needs.

Here's a sample of our services and rates:

Food (twice a day):
Clothing (free/low-cost):
Shelter (bed/shower/laundry):
Transportation (to/from work):
$ 1
$ 1
$ 1
$ 1

OUR SIX STRATEGIES
 
1)  The outreach and service ministries of the church most effectively respond to the issue of control by being offered "without strings attached."
 
2)  Nothing can take the place of the church identifying with the people of the community so that the hard living find it a comfortable place where the church is in solidarity with them, indeed, where they ARE the church.
 
3)  The long-time members of the church who are not themselves hard living have a central role to play in interpreting the latter as different AND as "our kind of people."  The practices of compassionate hospitality in contrast to demeaning charity are essential.
 
4) The issue of "turf" can be met effectively by the participation and leadership of the hard living on boards, programs, and missional outreach.
 
5)  Practices indigenous to hard living lives and expressive of their styles bespeak the most genuine kind of hospitality and do as much as anything to break down dividing walls of disrespect and demeaning patterns of participation.
 
6)  Without denying the spiritual and moral necessity of meeting the real needs of people a congregation will do its best work when focusing on the expansion and development of the capacities of the hard living and opening opportunities for their fullest expression.
 

Many of the services we offer require us to see your specific needs in order to make a decision.

Please call us at (918) 453-2699 for an interview or for more information.

We will update this page frequently so be sure to check back!

Send us an email

ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM IDEAS
 
CLOTHING is sold at a minimal price. This keeps it from feeling like charity...just giving clothes away sometimes leads to abuse. 
Nothing can raise the hackles of the hard living any faster than paternalistic charity.
 
"OPTIONS FOR YOUTH" obtains the names of high school dropouts and provides educational  and restitution opportunities for teenagers, or "English as a Second Language" enrollment.
 
OUTSIDE EVENTS --- on the parking lot, out in a closed-off street---draws greater numbers than inside the building.  Middle-class people tend to pay for things; the hard living like to DO things WITH other people. If there's a work day, they want to be there.
 
NEIGHBORHOOD FELLOWSHIP FEAST for the people of the community. A program where the hard living people both inside and outside the church help to prepare the meal. Even occasional meals like "POTLUCKS" are greatly appreciated, or have a spaghetti dinner from time to time for which they charge a sliding fee, "so they put in what they can."  In some instances they "buy" food by providing three hours of community service in exchange for it.
 
LEGAL SERVICES (not criminal cases) that deal with divorce, custody, collection agencies, garnishment of wages, and civil suits.  This is for people who need an attorney, do not have one, cannot afford one, and do not know where to get one.
 
TWELVE-STEP or self-help programs that work out of the church facilties.  Counseling that focuses on single parents, support groups, parenting training, and on the co-dependency arising out of families with alcoholics and other drug abusers.
 
HOME renovation and maintenance, upkeep, weatherization and housing programs in some instances are a basic service ministry.
 
The role of LONG-TIME MEMBERS of a congregation who embrace and care about the hard living inside and outside the congregation.  Some church members give or find jobs for the \hard living, others pick them up to take them to church and special events, and some just simply "help out."
 
STORYTELLERS: Some of the older people in the church tell stories about people who WERE down-and-out, poor people in the community, about people on the edges of the community, and about how they were really good people underneath.

Harry Alex Smith * 325 W. Shawnee- Suite A * Tahlequah, OK * USA * 74464