Submitted by Catherine Felegi
The First Presbyterian Church of Cranford (FPCC), 11 Springfield Avenue, New Jersey, in partnership with The Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless and a variety of other host churches in the Union county area, has helped a total of 60 guests stay in from the cold every Tuesday from Dec 2017 to March 2018 from through the emergency winter sheltering program, Operation Warm Heart. Operation Warm Heart FPCC Chapter is one of the ecumenical missions that the FPCC runs in order to help alleviate homelessness in the Union county area.
“The broad reach and personal impact of this program, due to all the dedicated volunteers that practically come out of the woodwork, is really astounding,” states Catherine Felegi, Operation Warm Heart FPCC Chapter coordinator. “I tell everyone every year that we’ve hosted since 2014 that really, it’s the volunteers who are doing all the work and making a difference, reaching out, and quite literally saving lives by keeping people off the streets during the harshest times; the winter months.”
Guests suffering from homelessness who arrive at the church can find a host of different services available for them, including hot dinners homemade by volunteers, haircuts from local barber shop and salon owners, laundry facilities, showers, sewing repairs, a pop-up shop to accept donated clothing, and a listening ear. The goal of the FPCC Chapter is simple. Make everyone feel welcomed and help them forget about the streets for a night. Volunteers make efforts to celebrate holidays with gifts and decorations, bring in birthday cakes, and have even provided musical entertainment through professional singing and piano playing on multiple occasions.
Felegi states, “People who come to our location actually call us their hotel, or their vacation spot, where they can either choose to get things done that they need to, or they can turn in for the night and relax after a hard day. I want the guests leaving here to feel accepted, loved, and to know that they are always welcomed, and we support them and their efforts to try and get off of the streets and into stable housing.”
Though homelessness went down by 4.6 percent since 2015 as of the 2017 New Jersey Point-In-Time Count, there is still work to be done to completely eliminate homelessness for the 8532 individuals still on the streets. And with the gap between rents and income growing, the issues of homelessness and poverty promise to be a prominent issue in the future if not faced now and handled immediately by both lawmakers and the greater community who are empowered to fight for the have-nots.
The FPCC Chapter started after Felegi read an article about a Bridgeton man who died after being found in a clothing donations bin, trying to keep warm. Felegi worked to set into motion a sheltering program in partnership with her church and various volunteers and was advised to seek council with The Elizabeth Coalition, that had been running Operation Warm Heart since 1996. The FPCC Chapter of the program has since received numerous awards for its efforts to alleviate homelessness and poverty, including the upcoming Union County Human Relations Commission 2018 Unity Award for Achievement by the Clergy, to be granted May 7, 2018 in partnership with Skip Winters, who runs the FISH Hospitality program through the church, and Janice Grevious, who runs the annual MLK Day of Service.
For more information, including how to donate and volunteer for the 2018 to 2019 hosting, contact FPCC Coordinator Catherine Felegi at 908-578-8500, or email her at Catherine.Felegi@gmail.com.
