The Journey Home continues to run its Coldest Nights program throughout this winter season, providing shelter on freezing nights for those at risk of sleeping outside in the cold. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to serve the homeless and other at-risk individuals in the Rutherford County community.
The organization’s community outreach offers services that encourage individuals to build economic stability, faith, independence and integration into community life.
On nights when it gets below freezing, The Journey Home partners with some local churches to provide an indoor space for those who need a roof over their heads. The Coldest Nights project, initiated by The Journey Home in 2008, provides shelter to unsheltered adults, many with various mental health conditions and financial struggles. In the project’s first year, the organization faced logistical challenges when seeking viable shelters for individuals, using area hotel rooms as places of refuge.
But the project would eventually be able to operate men’s and women’s shelters located at First Baptist Church and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Lisbeth Couser, Journey Home’s director of marketing, has been with the organization since 2020, but remembers the obstacles the nonprofit overcame to get to where they are now.
“In 2009 we asked First Baptist Church if they would allow us to set up a shelter for men in their church when it was below freezing, which they allowed,” Couser said. “We started operating in the church and in 2011 added St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to provide shelter for our women on Coldest Nights.”
Jim Trasport, a member of what The Journey Home calls the “Cold Patrol,” joined the initiative’s Hypothermia Prevention Program after volunteering at one of the church’s senior centers. The program was offered as a grant through The Journey Home that the ministry provides.
“I wanted to help serve meals. I don’t prepare them but help serve them, check everyone in, and make sure that everybody gets at least one meal, and their seconds,” Trasport said.
He works with the men’s shelter at First Baptist Church, providing blankets to those spending the night and assisting them with setting up cots, towels and other sundry items that they need to spend the night at the church. The shelter for the men, previously a gym for First Baptist Church, has been converted to a shelter with access to showers and toilets, separated by curtains to provide privacy to individuals.
“I find that when you treat somebody with respect and give them dignity, they in turn do the same thing. They’re very appreciative of the community,” Trasport said.
The program offers a supper at 5:30 p.m., with the shelter opening later for community members seeking a place to stay for the night.
“We have suppers, at The Journey Home and at First Baptist Church, with volunteers helping to prepare those meals,” Couser said. Staff members begin checking in shelter-seeking individuals at 7 p.m., and the church doors are open until 9 p.m., housing them until 7 a.m. the following day.
The Hypothermia Prevention Program’s Coldest Night’s initiative relies on community support from volunteers and hosts the program on evenings when the temperature is expected to fall below freezing. Two different weather services are used to determine when the shelter is open. If AccuWeather and The Weather Channel do not forecast temperatures below freezing for a minimum of two hours in the evening, doors for the churches stay closed for the night.
The unsheltered individuals who stay at the shelter typically have complex needs, such as healthcare needs, mental illnesses, and a need for permanent housing.
“We aren’t exclusively seeing homeless individuals seek shelter at our churches,” Trasport said. “The other night, I met a man who was in transition into finding an apartment, and after hearing about the shelter he took his three cats to find a place to bring them for two or three days until he could find a place to stay. While we ask people with pets to leave them in their vehicle where some shelter is provided, it sure beats them being out in the street on freezing nights.”
The Coldest Nights program is expected to continue throughout the winter season, likely up through the first few weeks of March.
Along with the goal of connecting clients with sustainable housing solutions that offer stability to break out of the cycle of homelessness, The Journey Home supplies knowledge and tools useful for an independent life.
“A lot of people help on this because it’s cold outside and they’re worried about our homeless neighbors, but it’s a need 365 days a year. The thing we want is for everybody to be in some kind of sustainable housing,” Couser said. “Anytime you’re living outdoors, you are vulnerable to the elements of living outdoors, whether it’s overheating or freezing to death, or maybe you have a medical condition. A lot of our unsheltered adults have got medical conditions such as heart trouble or diabetes or some other type of serious health problem, and living outside is not a very good way to take care of those type of health conditions.”
Coming Up:
The Journey Home is hosting a fundraising event on March 10 at the MTSU Student Union Building Ballroom called Journey 25, focusing on community action to raise funds for those experiencing homelessness in Rutherford County.
Those who are looking to assist in the program can volunteer and help with cleaning up after the meal groups. Donations such as sheets, warm gloves, blankets and clothing are also needed to support individuals during the cold months.
If you would like to volunteer or donate or for more information about The Journey Home and the Coldest Nights program, visit lovegodservepeople.org.
