In America, there are 553,000 homeless people who struggle to find a place to sleep every night. They will often find places in churches and other organizations. San Francisco church, the Boniface Catholic Church has started opening their doors to the homeless by allowing them to sleep in their pews.
The outreach program is called ‘The Gubbio Project’.
They house about 225 homeless people every single night.
The homeless can find shelter and get rest after hard times on the streets.
Many of them arrive during the day because they are often awake at night because it’s safer for them to be awake during the night.
The reason it’s safer for them to be awake during the night is because it’s a higher likelihood of them being attacked or robbed during the night.
The Boniface Church also provides the homeless with blankets and socks.
In addition the blankets and socks, they also provide them with hygiene kits that include items such as toothbrushes, shampoo and razors.
Director Shannon Eizenga told the San Francisco Chronicle, “The scale of the need is staggering. We are living in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. It does feel as though it’s ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ and this gap is increasing more every day.”
The church depends solely on donations to keep the project running.
The church says they run the program bases on a list of 10 principles with the most important being: “All people, especially those who are living on the streets or have mental health or substance abuse issues, are worthy of respect, dignity, and loving kindness.”
Volunteer Rev. David Erickson of the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin says, “What they do here isn’t going to solve the problem,” he continued. “But it’s going to do something for the problem right now.”
More info: The Gubbio Project
You can visit The Gubbio Project if you are interested in donating.