NORTHAMPTON — On a cold morning last January, the Rev. Anna Woofenden greeted two people on the steps of the St. Johns Episcopal Church who had not found a warm place to sleep and had spent the entire night walking the city to keep from freezing.
When Woofenden told this story to her congregation at St. John’s, members heard a calling: if people needed warm beds on freezing nights, then the church would offer them.
On Jan. 1, one year after that faithful interaction, the Trinity Room Emergency Overnight Shelter at St. John’s opened for four nights, providing 10 people and two dogs a warm place to sleep. The church’s newly-renovated multipurpose room transforms into a shelter for 12 beds whenever nighttime temperatures are predicted to dip to 15 degrees Fahrenheit or below — roughly 20 days each winter season.
“It’s not often that shelters allow pets to come, but we know how important that is. We are what they call a low barrier congregate shelter, which means you don’t have to be sober to come here,” said Karen Daneu, St. John’s building and grounds team co-chair. “Essentially, all you need is a place that’s warm to come.”
It took the volunteer efforts of the entire congregation to transform the crumbling underground community room into an emergency shelter. Some church members, like Kate Common, rolled up their sleeves to paint the ceiling, tile the bathroom or, in her case, install rubber base boards. Others took up fundraising efforts to meet the $30,000 cost of renovations. At least 65 volunteers enrolled in trainings at Tapestry Health Services to operate the emergency shelter.
However they chipped in, church members explained their donated time, money and effort are all part of their Christian mission.
“I think it’s really theology in action,” Common said. “Theology is supposed to be practical and is supposed to be boots on the ground, hands getting dirty and working together in community to support one another.”
At the Trinity Room’s ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 8, Woofenden explained the shelter’s name represents the collaboration between St. John’s, Manna Community Kitchen and the broader community. The room itself has a long history of service as the first home of the Northampton Survival Center and Manna Kitchen. After Manna moved upstairs in 2017, the room fell into disrepair.
“This room and everything that goes around it is a trinity kind of project, truly a team effort every step of the way. Each person and agency and organization coming together,” she said. “Not one of us thinking that we can be all powerful or do this on our own.”
It took nine months for members to finally finish clearing out the room, and little time to lay new flooring, fill in the holes in the ceiling and install a fire suppression system. Volunteers worked round the clock to finish the room in 76 days. Senior Leadership Team Member Katherine Whittmore said she could hear construction sounds from the sanctuary.
“We thought it was going to be much easier,” St John’s Building and Grounds Team co-Chair David Reckhow said. “We went to the building department and said, ‘Can we get approval for a shelter?’ And they came and took a look, and they gave us a long list of things that we needed to fix before we could ever consider it.”
Outside of the congregation’s generosity, Northampton city officials allocate their resources to ensure the project is a success. The Division of Community Care is coordinating referrals between the CSO shelter, whose 76 beds fill up quickly on cold nights. The Fire Department will be notified when the shelter is in operation in case of an emergency. The Hampshire County Jail washes all the bedding after the shelter closes.
“What you built here reflects a level of commitment and responsibility that few institutions are willing to shoulder,” Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said. “You did not do it as a public agency, but as a congregation that saw a gap and chose to fill it.”
If the winter weather forecast predicts low temperatures, the city, volunteer staffers and community members will have 48 hours notice of an opening. The shelter operates from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m., but those who reserve a cot can come back to that same bed as long as the cold spell persists.
