MESH: The right way to shelter more people!

For the past year, we’ve been partnering with the City of Marysville and local churches to provide additional housing for the graduates of our recovery programs. The first Micro Extended Shelter House (MESH) was so successful, that we have added another and now a church is also adding a home large enough for a family.

What began with just three graduates of our recovery program is today providing six individuals and one family the supportive housing they need to succeed in our community. By the time you read this, we may even have one more shelter online!

How does it work?

Residents must be clean and sober graduates of the Mission’s recovery program. They typically work or volunteer, pay a program fee and participate in activities in the community and at their church.

The most beautiful part about this new outreach is that people transitioning out of homelessness are building wonderful relationships with friends and mentors in the community and at their local church. Isolation is often the greatest danger for people in recovery. MESH makes sure that doesn’t happen with real relationships that are from the heart.

Mayor of Marysville Jon Nehring put it best. He said:

“As a community, we wanted to do more than just find short-term solutions for a long-term issue. By providing a safe place for people to live, and offering them vocational and life-skills training, we hope that formerly homeless individuals can transition back into our community with the tools they need to be successful.”

I’d love to see this model roll out to other cities as well . . . imagine how many lives would be changed if every neighborhood and every church committed to build relationships from the heart with our graduates. That’s what getting serious about homelessness would look like!

For more information about the MESH and how you can be part of it, contact us here.