Interfaith Hospitality Network
Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) is a non-profit organization based in Washington PA that sees to the needs of homeless families in the Washington area. In conjunction with many local churches of all denominations, meals and a place to sleep are provided to these displaced families. Guests work with staff at the Family Center in Washington PA to set priorities and take the steps necessary to gain self-sufficiency. Services are comprehensive and tailored to address specific family issues, and are often continued after families leave the network.
Services offered to guest families include:
6 Social Services, i.e. providing referral information and access to other services, resources and agencies.
6 Housing, i.e. providing furnishings for guests’ homes including furniture, appliances, linens and household accessories, (provided by the IHN Warehouse program, a volunteer effort involving collection and distribution of furnishings to IHN’s guests).
6 Life Skills Training, i.e. parenting and family relationships, financial management, and nutrition.
A priority of the staff at IHN is to work in cooperation with other service agencies in the Washington area, including providing feedback to referring agencies regarding client progress.
Trinity Church is the Host Church, approximately every 3 months, and Peters Creek Presbyterian Church, Center Presbyterian Church and Our Redeemer Lutheran assist us. The IHN families are housed in the Scout Building.
The Witness Team organizes the different jobs, but each member of Trinity is asked to look deep into his/her heart to discover one’s own spiritual gifts.
Do you have the gift of cleanliness and like to scrub? We’ll need you.
Do you have the gift of hospitality to cook and eat the dinner with them? We’ll need you.
Do you like to fix something sweet and dine with people over coffee and dessert?
Perhaps your gift is to unload the beds one Sunday and to load them on the trailer the following Sunday to move them to another church.
Do you have the gift of healing? We’ll need a nurse, doctor or EMT volunteer on call each night.
Of course the gift of driving is essential. We’ll need two van drivers a day to take the families to the Family Center in Washington as well as to our facility.
Do you have the gift of nurturing? We’ll need two volunteers to spend the night with the families, prepare a simple breakfast and send them off with the van driver with bread and lunch meat for lunch.
Can you help in any way? Please contact Amy Fornear.
---------------
