GIFTS Men's Shelter

WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED G.I.F.T.S.

G.I.F.T.S. stands for God Is Faithful Temporary Shelter. 

It was started by a small group of Christians that sat down to pray and asked God what He would have us do.  God led us to fill a need to take care of his children.

Our first meeting was in October 2007.  We organized quickly.  We explained our plan to local church pastors and on Christmas Eve, 2007, we were housing our first guests.  There were 7 men that found room at the inn that night.  In our first season, we served over 70 individuals and have seen many success stories.

The success stories, however, are not just men finding their way in life and with God, not just men getting jobs and becoming productive members of society, but success is also being seen in the cooperation among various faiths in Rock County.

Take a look at the brochure on the Home Page.  You'll see that Catholics are working with Lutherans.  Presbyterians are working with Methodists, Baptists are working with Independants.  All of God's humble servants are being united by His love.  Wow!

For many of our guests, this will be the first time in a long time that someone has actually cared about them and how they're doing.

Everybody needs a hug.

The concept is simple. 

We know that many churches have some heated, open space that goes unused for most of the week.  G.I.F.T.S. has 25 cots and all of the bedding and pillows, along with a portable shower.

On Sunday, we truck it into a church facility known as a "Host Site".    Volunteers, from that church, and/or another church (known as a partnering church), sign up to staff the shelter.  The doors open at 6:00 PM.  Open check in is from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.  Dinner, provided and prepared by the volunteers, will be at about 6:45 PM.  After 9:00 PM, a guest must have a police escort to enter the shelter.

If a guest has stayed with us on a given night, we will hold a bed for him until 7:00 PM.  After 7:00 PM, that bed may be given to another arrival on a first come, first served basis.

We conduct a background check (through the Police Department) on each prospective guest.  Those with open warrants or having registered sex-offender status will not be able to take advantage of the shelter.

 We have volunteers sign up to do intake and registration, volunteers sign up to provide dinner, volunteers (at least 2 adult males) sign up to stay overnight as chaperones, volunteers sign up to minister to the men and be their friends, volunteers sign up to provide breakfast and do the laundry.

In the morning, we wake them up at about 6:00AM, give them breakfast and they are out the door by either 7:30 AM or by 8:00 AM, depending on the church's needs.  This goes on 7 days a week from October until the end of April.