Arlington Life Shelter—30 Years
By: Jonathan Scheffrahn
For thirty years Grace Community Church has been serving the Arlington Life Shelter and the larger homeless community in our area. Every month the Grace shelter team, led by LeaAnn Hirth our director of community outreach, cooks and provides food to serve to the occupants of the shelter located at 325 W. Division Street, Arlington, Texas 76011. Recently LeaAnn and I met with the team from the shelter to learn more about how they care for and encourage the homeless population they serve each day.
When you arrive at the shelter you will notice it is a nice facility, finished just a few years ago in 2020.
Stairwell near the entrance to leads to the upstairs Family Areas.
Seating area at the front intake area.
Every day the shelter receives new people needing a place from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. It is a “High Bar” facility which means they will background check everyone who wants to come and prevent entry to sex offenders or violent offenders. Photo ID is required for people wanting to enter the facility.
The motto of the shelter is work and save as their goal is to provide a free place for people wanting to get back on their feet. This is right out of 2 Thessalonians 3:10 where Paul says this: ”For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” When people come they are offered the opportunity to do a program that allows them to stay for up to three months where they work and get the support they need to try to transition to permanent housing after the program ends. People not doing the program are usually only allowed to stay for a few days.
Example Employment opportunity sign-in sheet.
When they first begin the program they must find work and the shelter offers many opportunities to help them including bringing in employers regularly.
If someone doesn’t have a job mid-way through the program then the shelter team knows they will not have enough resources built up to successfully transition to permanent housing and so will ask them to exit the facility. They told us they had a 72% success rate with people starting the program completing it. As people progress they work hard to try to find housing although that is not promised and there is a lot of housing pressure in our area. So for example migrants who don’t have the ability to work, can only stay a few weeks at the shelter because they won’t be able to find jobs that would allow them to continue the program. If someone starts the program, and fails for whatever reason they cannot try again for a year. The shelter will also help people needing to get to a family member by providing gas, bus ticket, or airfare to get someone from here to a place where they can get help.
Meeting room for AA, NA, Workforce Solutions, Pathfinders Financial counseling, and more.
Example room from the women-only area. The facility has 46 women’s beds, 48 men’s beds plus seven family rooms.
Everyone who comes gets a locker to safeguard their belongings.
The max capacity of the shelter is 120 and they usually have about 110-115 at any one time. If someone says the shelter is full, they recommend encouraging that person to come back the next day as they always have someone leaving and freeing up space or can make a referral. They have 46 womens beds in the women’s wing, 48 mens beds and 7 family rooms upstairs. They offer food five times a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner). If they are full one of the places they will refer to is Presbyterian Night Shelter in Fort Worth which has a capacity of 640. If someone is struggling with mental health, the shelter can do a fast referral to MHMR where they can quickly get the meds they need to get stable again.
A Nurse Practitioner comes in to offer free healthcare to the people who need it.
A space to have some peace and quiet.
Everything is free to the residents, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.
They have laundry rooms where every other day either men or women can do their laundry.
The Dallas Mavericks donated a computer lab to help residents find work.
Children’s play area (through the window).
Once someone finds work other programs begin to open up. For example, they have Via codes, Arlington’s answer to public transit, they can give to people to get them to and from work for free as long as the job is inside Arlington.
If someone has turned in two pay stubs then they will sometimes help with a deposit on an apartment, or pay the first month’s rent, or help find them furniture. If someone is homeless then the shelter is an excellent resource in our community to have a place to stay and receive the help to get them back on their feet again. And they are so appreciative of churches like ours who are willing to help and serve those in our community needing a helping hand.
If you want to get involved in the Life Shelter Ministry contact Lea Ann Hirth at leaann@gracearlington.com.
