Winter Shelters
Winter Shelter Model
Stable One’s shelter model enables churches of all denominations to offer a coordinated approach to the increasing problem of homelessness by offering hospitality and making a practical difference during the coldest time of year.
Church buildings are used to provide food and shelter to people experiencing homelessness, with seven church communities each responsible for one evening per week. Each partner church identifies a Venue Coordinator and provides the food and cooks for the evening meal, as well as a self-serve breakfast.
Volunteers, both from local churches and the community, come together to staff the Shelter, working at any venue according to their availability. This allows numerically small churches to partner in the project. Policies and procedures are implemented consistently across each venue.
The Project is managed by a Management Committee made up of the Project Coordinator, a Volunteer Coordinator, Venue Coordinators and a Secretary. Additional members could be a Deputy Coordinator, Prayer Coordinator or Media & Communications Assistant.
A trailer or van is used to house other equipment and bedding which is moved each day between venues (stretcher beds/inflatable mattresses, games, towels, toiletries, bedding etc.).
“Participating in Stable One has provided members of our church yet another avenue to demonstrate the love of Jesus towards people in our community. One aspect of this ministry that I admire is that we are able to serve in unison, focusing on Kingdom goals, through a wide variety of people expressing an equally diverse number of skills. We want our Stable One guests to be shown care and compassion during the challenging winter months – all without regard to waving a denominational flag.”
Michael Drennan, Pastor, Mooroolbark Baptist Church
Winter Shelter Network
Stable One's mission to journey alongside those experiencing homelessness extends beyond our own local area of the Yarra Valley in Victoria. We are keen to see this model replicated across Australia and encourage more churches to partner together and help the most vulnerable in their communities.
Although we encourage projects to be autonomous as they look to meet local needs, we also believe there is significant benefit in being connected for continual improvement and the development of best practice. For this purpose, and following extensive research and experience, we have established the Winter Shelter Network. We encourage new and existing Winter Shelters to affiliate with our Network as we work together to enhance our collective impact within the community.
Network affiliates receive:
- Personalised assistance and equipping to start a shelter
- Access to the affiliates section of our website, containing a comprehensive project description, detailed operational policies and procedures, sample forms, role descriptions, a volunteer handbook and a library of training and conference videos
- Project Coordinator training, support and consultancy
- Online Network meetings for encouragement, troubleshooting and prayer
- Annual conference to share learnings, receive training from a variety of guest speakers, collaborate and develop best practice.
To enquire about how to start a Winter Shelter in your area, access our Toolkit and become a network affiliate, contact us.
“The Toolkit and evaluation documents are invaluable ...It was not really until I volunteered to be the Project Coordinator (some weeks later) that I really understood the level of work you had done to pull all of this together.” - Network affiliate
Click the sound bar below to listen to ABC Southern Queensland's interview with a guest of the Toowoomba Winter Shelter.
Find a Shelter
Interested in volunteering or staying as a guest? Find your local shelter here.