Blog Posts
The Importance of Saying “Yes”
Photo by Naomi August on Unsplash
Louis was a UCLA graduate student, working towards his PhD in engineering, when he realized that college student homelessness was a massive under-the-radar problem. It bothered him. A lot. Louis felt compelled to do something about this problem and set his mind on opening a shelter to house homeless college students. He figured there might be a church, synagogue or mosque near campus that might be interested, so he set out to meet with congregation leaders.
Each time Louis presented his idea, he was met with sympathetic ears … but the answer was always a disappointing "no."
Louis pushed on. After meeting Louis, the Executive Director of the Westside (Los Angeles) Coalition for Housing, Hunger and Health, approached me shortly after I began serving as Senior Pastor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Santa Monica, California. She said to me, “Pastor, there is a young man with a dream and I would like you to meet him”
By the time I met with Louis he had already spoken with some 50 other west Los Angeles and Santa Monica congregations. I was the 51st.
And I was the one who said “yes.”
Now I knew nothing about homelessness among college students but quickly discovered that some 10% of college students in California were homeless (and 20% hungry). While those numbers are higher in California than other parts of the USA, because of the high cost of housing in our state, I also found that this is a national problem, affecting students across the USA.
Louis’ dream was to open the “Bruin” shelter (“Bruin” is the nickname for UCLA athletes and students), staffed by volunteer students. It was to be the first shelter for homeless college students in the USA and only the second shelter for homeless people run by college students in the USA (the other shelter run by college students was at University Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a shelter for the general homeless population). Student volunteers would serve as resident assistants and provide dinner and breakfast for our residents. They would also raise the funds for the ongoing expenses. Residents would be pre-screened by the student leaders and stay in the shelter for the entire semester, or until they could find more permanent housing.
Mt. Olive Church had been around since 1942. It is a small (225 members) but very active congregation. A large (100+ students) preschool. Home of the Westside Coalition for Housing, Hunger and Health. Host to fifteen 12 step groups and monthly jazz concerts as well as many other musical and community groups.
And, in 2015, a congregation with unused space in our facilities.
We allowed the shelter to turn two unused classrooms into a large dorm room for ten residents and let them use the Parish Hall balcony area for storage. Since the residents came in each evening around 7pm and left each morning at 7am, they were able to use other shared facilities like the kitchen and other spaces for study.
So, it was easy for our Congregation Council and for me to say “yes.”
Now, don’t get me wrong, this new venture was not without challenges and setbacks. We needed to get a zoning change to allow us to be a “hotel” in our neighborhood. We needed renovations to our facilities, adding a shower to one of our bathrooms and a sprinkler system to the new dorm room where 10 students would sleep. We opened and then had to shut down for a time because of these zoning and renovations needs.
But we also had amazing support from our congregation and community. Before approving the zoning change, the City of Santa Monica solicited comments from the community and received 62 responses, 60 of them positive! We had financial support from the Santa Monica City Council, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the ELCA’s Southwest California Synod, among many others. A local architect did all the architectural drawings for the needed building changes and even found a local contractor to donate the renovations. A Los Angeles Times newspaper columnist became our champion. People would literally stop me on the street and ask how they could help!
The night we opened it rained. We had gotten homeless students out of their cars and off the streets into a safe, dry place to sleep, eat and study.
In addition to financial support, the shelter received amazing media coverage with articles on The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times newspapers among many others plus stories on PBS and NPR and a 2019 feature story on CBS Sunday Morning (which was followed by a Sunday Doonesbury comic about college student homelessness – I wonder where Garry Trudeau got that idea?)
Since we opened the Bruin Shelter, our college student homeless shelter ministry, now called “Students 4 Students Shelters,” has expanded to include the Trojan Shelter (staffed by volunteer students from the University of Southern California) in Los Angeles and the Aggie House in Davis, California (staffed by student volunteers at the University of California at Davis). Students are ready to open the Slug Shelter in Santa Cruz, California (staffed by student volunteers from the University of California at Santa Cruz) as soon as they can find a site. We are in conversation with student leaders at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, among other campuses. All sponsored by Mt. Olive Lutheran Church.
All because the leaders of Mt. Olive said “yes.
Lots of congregations have unused space, often nearly empty for six days each week. And the housing crisis affects every community. No one left Mt. Olive because we opened the shelter. On the contrary, Mt. Olive membership grew because of our shelter ministry. People joined our congregation because they wanted to be part of a church that served the community in this way. Our Congregation Council was unanimous in support for this effort. We did not feel we needed to go the congregation for an approval vote. The shelter paid/pays its own way. There was/is no financial burden for Mt. Olive because of the shelter ministry.
Maybe it is time for your congregation to say “yes?”
More information on Students 4 Students Shelters can be found at www.s4sla.org .
Rev. Eric Shafer
The Rev. Eric C. Shafer was Senior Pastor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Santa Monica from April, 2014 until his retirement in July, 2022. He is currently the “Pastor in Residence” for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
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When Home is Not Home
“When I think of home, I think of a place where there’s love overflowing.” These are lines from the song, “Home,” written by Charles Small. “Home” is a timeless crowd-pleaser and tearjerker from the musical, The Wiz. This Broadway production turned movie is the Black answer to The Wizard of Oz. In both play and film, Dorothy’s longing for her home in Kansas is most poignantly expressed in song. She intones, “I wish I was back there with the things I've been knowing.”
There is a safety, security of home at least for most of us. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to pause and consider our relationship with the place and people associated with our homes. Sudden shifts to working remotely and ad nauseam Zoom meetings have exposed parts of our lives which had been selectively disclosed.
Now people from across the country get to peep into our private spaces.
Not only are our material goods or the lack thereof on blast, but the swaddling clothes of classism come to bear. Wi-Fi conundrums do not get interpreted as merely a cable issue, but as a financial one, suggesting a co-worker or colleague cannot afford better service. And truth is, perchance the individual cannot.
This corona context quickly coerced students to leave colleges and universities and retreat to their homes. Whereas many grumbled about leaving the apex of their social ecosystem, others were anxious about returning to places of fiscal instability, social dis-ease, and familial dysfunction. One cannot discount students who were homeless before going to college and who have returned to homelessness. Administrators of Historically Black Colleges and Universities note this (in)security.
It is existential dissonance to adhere to any mandate to shelter in place when one’s place of shelter is questionable or not existent.
People vulnerable pre-pandemic remain vulnerable during the pandemic. The pandemic is no pretty picture, but a painful panorama of physical, economic, and cultural inequities prior to its onset. What was broken before the virus, is still broken now and will remain fractured for days to come.
Life-work balance was a myth before talk of contact tracing. Today it is the unicorn in the room. Our homes are now offices, daycare centers, educational institutions, and religious facilities. E-learning quite often clashes with e-working, and the idea of e-worshipping seems like another online megillah. How dare anyone attempt to police what we do in our homes. This is not indicative of the “things we’ve been knowing,” and sometimes it does not feel “there’s love overflowing.”
When is home not home? For whom does home feel foreign?
African Americans question America as home. There is a perceived danger in our existence even when we are near or in our homes. The reckless, perpetual killing of Black bodies is evidence. Trayvon Martin was walking home when a no-cop killed him. Botham Jean was in his own apartment when a police office shot him. While on a call for one matter, police officers digressed and shot Keith Lamont Scott at his apartment complex. Playing a game with her nephew did not keep Atatiana Jefferson secure in her house. Sleeping while home was not a safety net for Breonna Taylor. #BlackLivesMatters resonates because for racist reasons we are deemed indispensable on playgrounds, at the beach, at the park, in the car, in church, and yes, even in our own homes.
When is home not home? For whom is home dangerous?
Victims of domestic violence are not “at home” during this pandemic. Studies show that domestic violence increases during natural disasters and crises. In a Covid context, where sheltering in place and physical distancing are the norm, isolation is one way in which perpetrators of intimate partner violence inflict abuse. Additionally, the increase in Zoom usage lends towards survivors reliving digital exploitation. Intimate partner violence has not only national, but global implications according to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, “For many women and girls, the threat looms largest where they should be safest — in their own homes.”
When is home not home? For whom is home a house of horror?
Children remain vulnerable to physical harm, verbal abuse, emotional hurt and sexual predatory practices. The shift to online learning means they are home more with their abusers. Without physical access to schools, libraries, religious institutions, or community centers, children are relegated to sheltering with adults who cannot shield them from trauma at their own hands. Targeting children and even pets becomes a means of furthering control in the home. Custody visits via Zoom can be uncomfortable if one parent wants to hide a home location. Sometimes home is just not home.
Hebrews 11:13-14 records, “All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.” The writer was addressing a group who had become disheartened in their faith. Their social context threatened their spiritual walk. In order to encourage this community, the writer pointed to the testimony their ancestors.
The displacement the community was experiencing was not dissimilar to what their foreparents had faced.
Biblical history notes a longing for home. Our current context rubber stamps this continued pining. We are seeking a place to call home, a place where there’s love overflowing, a place where we can finally rest and just be.
Dr. Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder
Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder, author, speaker and teacher, is a Baptist and Disciples of Christ minister who holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Vanderbilt University. Her latest book is When Momma Speaks: The Bible and Motherhood from a Womanist Perspective. This #WomanistMomma currently serves as Associate Professor and Academic Dean at Chicago Theological Seminary.
Facebook: Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder
Twitter: @stepbcrowder
Instagram: StephBuckhanonC
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Church Anew is dedicated to igniting faithful imagination and sustaining inspired innovation by offering transformative learning opportunities for church leaders and faithful people.
As an ecumenical and inclusive ministry of St. Andrew Lutheran Church, the content of each Church Anew blog represents the voice of the individual writer and does not necessarily reflect the position of Church Anew or St. Andrew Lutheran Church on any specific topic.