Ecclesia Ministries of Newburgh

   What if you had the chance to help a person who needed a warm place to sleep and food to eat without even leaving your computer? And, what if you joined with others who care about giving some of what they have to others to make a difference in their lives?

    Their lives could change. And, so could yours.  

   We don’t know exactly how many of Newburgh’s homeless have walked in through the doors of Our House, the seven-day-a-week drop-in center we’ve been running for more than seven years. What we can tell you is that every one of them has found a warm welcome, a place to sit and relax for a while, a telephone to call home, and a bowl of soup on a cold night. Many have been our guests for the night because they had no place else to go.

   Take Bill, for example. “It’s a blessing . . .without it I would have died by now. I truly believe that.”

   First Bill got laid off. Then his mom died. Then his truck broke down. Then his license to drive tractor trailers and buses expired. Then he ended up on the streets. With a little help from our friends, Bill got his license renewed.

   “Hopefully some doors will open and I’ll get a job, a place, and a vehicle . .   . get my life back together and hopefully see my daughter and my son,” he said as he walked out of the DMV.

   And then there’s Kyle. “I like the hospitality, the love that’s the main thing . . . I come for fellowship with my friends. It’s like my second home.”

   Kyle, a veteran, came to the drop-in center when it first opened. At Our House, Kyle found people who helped him make important decisions about his future. “There was a time when I was down and out . . . those angels provided me with a roof over my head and helped me get it together. . . if it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know where I’d be,” Kyle says. So, now, he comes back to help others discover their way off the streets.

   “We have to care for each other,” he says.

   We’re here doing what we’re doing because of people like you. People like you know that we are all connected, and so you give what you can. You give your hard-earned money so we can pay the bills – heating, electricity, telephone, water and sewer, supplies, and case management – and serve all who walk through the door. You give your time and energy to make the food we serve on nights when no one’s serving. And, you give by volunteering, getting to know those who grace us with their presence.