HELP MCREST OPEN IT'S PERMANENT SHELTER FOR HOMELESS MEN IN MACOMB COUNTY!

This winter has brought the coldest weather on record in Michigan in 7 years. It is not safe for anyone to be outdoors. The danger is very real. Hypothermia. Severe illness. Or worse.

People need a place to go. They need refuge. Lives are at stake. When tragedy strikes, our hearts break. We ask ourselves: who is going to help?

The answer? We are.

At MCREST, we use every dollar we have to expand our services as far as we can. To help as many people as we can.

Right now, we're on the cusp of something permanent. Something built to last. But we need your help to do it.

In the last few years, MCREST has been facing a budgetary crisis. For the first time in our 37 year history, we had to pause our Men's Program due to a precipitous drop in host churches. For a while, we paid for motel rooms for our male guests, but as our savings dwindled, our very existence was at risk.

So we took action. We looked to our permanent shelter building for Women and Children, built in 2022, and set a goal to have the same stability available to Men in Macomb County. No more uncertainty.

We own a building next door to our shelter. It could be renovated and transformed quickly. We secured a $100,000 grant from Lowe's for the project -- and positive change felt just around the corner.

Then we hit a roadblock. We were denied a zoning permit from the Mt. Clemens Planning Commission for the Men's Shelter building. We appealed over months -- and we were still denied. The reason we were given? Our guests and their existence would hurt the local economy and diminish property values.

But this would not stop us. What could we do? An idea formed -- move our Administrative Offices to the empty building and use the floor where they were to shelter the men. This building was already zoned to be a shelter. No more red tape.

We hired a contractor. And since this summer, they've been hard at work making our dream a reality. The space is close to completion. And we're so, so close to opening our doors. But there is one final hurdle.

We need to raise an additional $100,000 to staff this new Men's Shelter before it can be opened.

Expansion means additional responsibility and we've already had to make staffing cuts as an organization. Our remaining staff are spread thin, volunteers cannot be scheduled to work overnight.

We need you, so we can Open Our Doors.

Please give what you can and share this call to action far and wide.

Together, let's take a large step forward to ensuring no one in OUR county has to sleep out in the cold.