Description
In addition to offering a Soup Kitchen, on-site primary Health Clinic, Jobs Program, and 49 beds of Transitional Housing, Good Shepherd is unique in implementing a Day Shelter or safe haven for the chronically homeless. This program targets that part of the homeless population characterized by high rates of mental illness, substance abuse, and co-occurring disorders, and strives to meet their basic survival needs in the short term while assisting as many as possible in regaining their physical health, mental health, and housing stability. Unlike many area programs for the homeless, it does not screen out individuals currently in the throes of alcoholism or substance use/abuse, instead working to engage them in services conducive to recovery and transition to housing by utilizing methods of rapport and trust building while offering essential services required to respond to these individuals' immediate needs. Hence, as many as 100 homeless individuals per day continuously access the Day Shelter's restrooms, showers, clothing closet, Jobs Program, and other services, with each contact allowing us to develop relationships intended to foster increasing client self-sufficiency.
Good Shepherd Ministries of Wilmington, Inc. is a non-profit agency which provides services to homeless men, women, and families with children in the Wilmington area. In order to be of better service to our clients and volunteers, we must at times rely on the kindness and humane nature of individuals and businesses in our community. With this help, we have been able to structure our organization in such a way that it effectively offers many levels of support to this underserved group- a Drop-in Center during the day which allows these individuals access to our Soup Kitchen for two meals a day; a Health Clinic offering primary care, referrals, and medications; a Jobs Program serving to connect individuals with employers as well as provide jobs skills/readiness training; and an Overnight Shelter providing refuge for up to 118 people each night, while also providing a dinner meal. Moreover, we provide two off-site transitional housing centers for these under-housed individuals--one of which is dedicated to serving homeless veterans.
Throughout these various programs, we have undertaken to infuse the idea of attaining self-sufficiency, further providing cohesiveness and clarity to our mission. Fostering self-sufficiency and the betterment of the lives of homeless clients in our surrounding area are worthy goals, and we strive to achieve them everyday. However, we cannot successfully meet these goals without the commitment of individuals and groups dedicating their time or without the donation of goods, services, and financial contributions from generous businesses and citizens sharing our community.
