EUMA

Goal: $10,000.00

Specific Need

It’s that time and our neighbors in Crawford County need your help!

Give to EUMA this Crawford Gives, August 19-21 and help end homelessness by making it rare, brief and one-time, as Jesus would!

For 138 years, EUMA and our predecessor ministries have come alongside our neighbors in need. Neighbors who didn’t want a handout, but rather a hand up. Growing up, my neighbors helped each other out. With food, clothing, with a cup of sugar and when things got really tough, a ride, some money, a place to live and a whispered prayer. That’s what neighbors do.

EUMA (Erie United Methodist Alliance) is committed to ending homelessness in Northwest Pennsylvania by making it rare, brief, and one-time, as Jesus would. And, when you asked, EUMA responded by bringing our housing and homeless services to Crawford County.

Today, in Crawford County, EUMA operates 11 units of temporary and permanent housing devoted to our neighbors experiencing a housing crisis. Neighbors who have fallen on hard times and need a place to regroup, reset and work to change the trajectory of their lives.

And, last winter, with an amazing group of partners and volunteers, EUMA's Shelter Area Meadville (SAM) second seson was lifechanging for those who are in need of an emergency seasonal shelter of last resort, our most vulnerable neighbors. Modeled after EUMA’s Our Neighbors’ Place located in Erie, Crawford County’s SAM welcomes our homeless adult neighbors to a safe, warm place to get our of the bitter cold, eat, get cleaned up, sleep and move onto a pathway to permanent housing.

We thought we would occasionally welcome a homeless neighbor. We thought the winter would not be that bad. We were wrong. During those coldest nights of the year nights we welcomed 91 unduplicated neighbors. Thirteen youth aged 18-24, a 71-year-old man, 26 women and 65 men. Four guests identified themselves as Veterans and all did not have any other place to go.

In our pilot season, our colleague, Lori Lewis, provided staff leadership at SAM. I remember her telling me about the scared, dirty and hungry young woman who had no home, no family – no one to care for her. With tears in her eyes she shared the late night whispered conversation with a severely mentally ill man who needed to talk before he could sleep. AND, I remember Lori’s smiles when she shared that both neighbors, thanks to the incredible work of our partners, moved from homeless to a HOME of their own, from hopeless to a HOPE in a brighter tomorrow.

I know it seems early but winter is coming, friends. That’s why we need your investment in Crawford County’s Shelter Area Meadville – a shelter of last resort for our neighbors in greatest need. Be a good neighbor, join us this Crawford Gives by giving to EUMA (Erie United Methodist Alliance) and end homelessness by making it rare, brief and one-time, as Jesus would!

Remember, everything EUMA raises during Crawford Gives, stays in Crawford County!