(Photo courtesy of Shepherd’s House Ministries)
Central Oregon has seen a 28 percent unprecedented surge in homelessness compared to last year. Tonight, over 1,600 people are living in camps, in cars or on cold streets. Many are abused, addicted, alone, and hopeless. Curt Floski, the executive director at Shepherd’s House Ministries said, “This is the largest homeless surge we have ever seen in Central Oregon.”
Shepherd’s House Ministries started in 2007 as a soup kitchen for the hungry and long-term recovery center for men. Today, they have grown to be the largest provider of low-barrier shelter beds in the state, and they also provide long-term recovery programs for men, and women with children.
During the COVID pandemic they launched Shepherd’s House Aid and Relief Effort (Project SHARE), a mobile outreach program where staff and volunteers go out and into homeless camps bringing life-sustaining food and supplies, and most of all, meaningful connections, to help those struggling with homelessness transition out of the camps into secure housing or transformational programs.
Recently, Shepherd’s House Ministries joined with over 20 local service providers to open the Lighthouse and the Franklin House in Bend. These are low-barrier shelters for men, women and families that offer full wrap-around services including case management, medical and mental health care, and job readiness training all on one site.
During the past 18 months the Shepherd’s House has served over 275,000 meals to the hungry, helped nearly three hundred people transition safely off the streets into secure housing or transformational programs, and provided shelter and long-term recovery care for hundreds more.
“At the end of this year we are planning to open a new shelter in Redmond, where the need is great as well” Floski said. “We will have space for up to 48 people nightly, serve thousands of meals and provide full wrap-around services all to save and transform lives.
