Tonight I am grateful to see the longest day of the winter come and pass--this means that in some small way spring is coming and that the winter will not last forever. It is often difficult to keep a wider perspective when it is so dark, cold and wet. When it all feels too heavy, too dark, too overwhelming I am reminded of the daily successes that we see and hear about, the many times it has felt too impossible to keep going, and the hope that still lives in my heart even when it seems like this world is too hard to tackle. I want to thank the shelter staff for believing so much in what
we are doing and for working so hard to make it possible.
I have never met a more beautiful group of people to take this on. 

Today, we saw 129 different people come through the doors of Temple Beth Hatfiloh between the hours of 7am and 1pm that received respite from the rain and cold at our warming center. Some were able to sleep after walking the streets all night long and others were able to connect to vital social services with the help of our staff. So far we have seen an average of 65 different people per day at the warming center. This is a daily success in our community that I am proud to be a part of and so grateful to the faith communities of First Christian Church, Temple Beth Hatfiloh and the
United Churches for partnering with us on.

Tonight, I reflect upon all the work that has been done this year, all that is left to do, and how much could change if we could deeply commit to recognizing the humanity in one another.
This is a commitment that I will make for the coming year--will you join me?
Thank you to our community for supporting us this year and please continue to stay involved in making this a city that we are all an integral part of!!

Thank you to Debi Bodett for designing such a beautiful and powerful infographic to help tell our story.