MICHIGAN ITINERANT SHELTER SYTEM INTERDEPENDENT OUT OF NECESSITY
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Mission Statement
Services that fill the gaps between that which is provided by government funded organizations or organizations with paid staff and the immediate, urgent short-term needs of homeless people.
About This Cause
A few examples of our programs and services include: - Providing Supplies: free outdoor living, emergency supplies including tents, portable toilets, tarps, portable heaters, sleeping bags/cots, weather appropriate clothing and other basic supplies such as toilet paper, OTC medications and basic hygiene products. - Services Provision: We provide basic survival services to those living on the streets or in government shelters. These include: laundry services (washers, dryers), showers/toilet facilities, weather appropriate clothing, a food pantry including weekly fruits and vegetables (courtesy of grocery chains and the Zen Buddhist Temple), etc. - Food: We provide hot meals to those experiencing homelessness. In particular: Brunches on Saturdays at Mercy House (located at 805 W. Huron Street, Ann Arbor); brunches on Sunday mornings at Peace House (located at 706 Davis Street, Ypsilanti); a Sunday evening dinner and a community meeting (at “The Purple House” located at 3051 Stone School Street, Ann Arbor). We also deliver dozens of brunches to families on Saturdays (via Mercy House) and on Sundays (via Peace House). With those deliveries we also carry and provide emergency supplies (items such as toilet paper, OTC medications, towels, socks, etc.), provide emergency transportation and other very basic services to the homeless or those living on the edge of homelessness. - Emergency/short-term Shelter. In our role as a “safety net below the safety net” organization we focus on filling missing gaps in our community’s homelessness mitigation support systems. It can often take 5-10 days before a suddenly homeless family is provided with shelter in one of the communities homeless shelters. One of our programs is a collaboration with the Ann Arbor School Board’s McKinney-Vento program. With that program MiSSION provides immediate, emergency shelter in local hotels. Filling this which occurs when families are most vulnerable and often traumatized by the shock of sudden homelessness. This program is funded by a generous grant from the Masco Corporation. In another program, we raise funds and provide emergency, very short hotel stays (1-7 days) with a priority on: 1st children not registered in the AA Public Schools and their guardian(s), 2nd the old and sick, and 3rd the old or sick. - Extreme Weather initiatives. Our Winter Weather Amnesty (WWA) and our Daytime Warming Centers (DWC) initiatives have been operational for the last several years running. Our WWA initiative provides temporary, emergency indoor sleeping accommodation to homeless individuals who otherwise would be sleeping outdoors during the coldest of Ann Arbor’s winter nights. Official shelters often overflow, particularly in the winter, and many of the people we help are disqualified from being helped at traditional shelters because of mental health issues (that may include potentially violent behaviors, drug addiction, etc), because they have pets which they will under no circumstances abandon, and for many other reasons. The annual DWC initiative (is organized and staffed by MiSSION in collaboration with local churches and government funded shelters). It provides an all day place where the homeless can find shelter and safely congregate through the winter months. In addition, although we are not “a shelter” we also provide sheltering/hospitality to homeless guests on a case-by-case basis at Peace House (in Ypsilanti), Mercy House (in Ann Arbor) and at the Jim Hill House (aka “The Purple House”) in Ann Arbor). - Community. Of great importance and healing value to the homeless, particularly the chronically homeless, we provide a gathering space where the homeless can congregate in a home-like, non-institutional settings in which they can find solace, share experiences and find relief from the isolation and sense of disenfranchisement characteristic of homelessness. Mercy House and Peace House are operated in a manner and in the spirit of a Dorothy Day home. Finally, we note that we are a 100% volunteer organization and have been since our inception in 2010. We have no employees or salaries to pay. We are a 5013c organization (EIN: 27-0624653). We do have a website but it is not maintained as we are a 100% volunteer organization.