TRM offers a variety of ways to assist our sheltered and unsheltered neighbors, allowing us to walk alongside them as they navigate the many challenges of getting back on their feet. Change is hard, especially when someone has suffered with mental illness, addiction, or unfortunate life circumstances, but we are called by God to help our brothers and sisters by loving them well and lifting them up. Some come here because they lost their housing and need a place to stay while they work through how to get back into a home.  Some come here at the lowest point of their lives and are completely hopeless and broken.  However, whether they arrive at our shelters or are unsheltered, they are treated with love, kindness, guidance, and grace.  One thing that is true of all our guests and neighbors on the streets is that they need a second chance. They need assistance in many ways and our team at TRM meets them where they are, using the gifts that God has endowed us with in order to bring his people the help they require. We at TRM have seen and will continue to believe that through the power of the Lord, no one is ever too far gone.  

 

When a person comes to us for help, it is not a one-size fits all approach because each person has different needs.  For a lot of our guests and unsheltered neighbors, that entails taking classes to gain job readiness training, life skills, and trauma education.  For some it may look like helping them navigate through the many hoops they may have to jump through to get the required documents to move into a home. For some it may be a comprehensive combination of taking self-improvement classes and gaining their required documents to obtain housing. Whatever the case may be, they are always met with compassion, empathy, and a helping hand.  

 

We know that when a person loses their home, they often lose all their belongings as well.  They come to us with the clothes on their back or a small backpack with what they have left or nothing at all. Our team here at TRM, which includes our dedicated staff, volunteers, donors, and community partners understand that it takes a comprehensive approach to help someone land back on their feet. That is why when someone we are helping takes the trying and difficult steps to gain a new beginning, we assist them with everything they need to move into a new home through a process that is called a Completion of Program.  When that exciting event happens, our team at our distribution center is notified and the wheels start moving to get the person or family everything from furniture, to appliances, to kitchenware, to bed and bath supplies, to bedding and so on.  We are able to bless, through the donations given to us by our generous community, these people that have lost everything. So far in 2023 we were able to help with 81 completions of programs!  That is 81 new beginnings and transformations from hopeless to hope.  Thank you Lord! 

 

There is no greater blessing to us than to watch someone open the door to their new home and help them move into a new beginning.  Shellie Eells is one of those people we were able to bless when her life took a turn for the worst.  Shellie, a college graduate with a degree in Health Science, became homeless in the summer of 2005 after her father, whom she was caring for, died, and left her a home that she could not care for.  She couldn’t keep up with her medical bills from her back surgery or the bills for the house.  Once she healed from her surgery, she realized it was too late to save her house and she had to sell it at an auction.  Penniless and hopeless, Shellie ended up on the streets.  After many trials and tribulations, Shellie decided enough was enough and worked with TRM’s Street Reach team to get what she needed to get back into a home.  We partnered with her and helped her set realistic goals each week to achieve and after three previous tries of shedding homelessness, she is finally in a place she can call home!  

 

Shellie’s story is one that we see everyday at TRM.  We see it on the streets and in our shelters the desperation that befalls our guests and neighbors.  However, we know that through the hope we receive through Jesus Christ, we can then turn around and give that hope to others through doing what Christ calls his followers to do; to serve and love.   We are able to do this because He first loved us and is a King who serves his beloved people. At TRM, our slogan is “Faith with its Sleeves Rolled Up” because we work tirelessly to ensure that God’s people are cared for in all ways - to give renewed hope and new beginnings. †