Tim Dunn/CapeCod.com
WAREHAM – Three churches in Wareham have begun the annual Nights of Hospitality program this week.
As part of the effort, the churches offer free bedding, breakfast, and dinner to the homeless during the frigid New England winter.
The churches opened their doors at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, providing men, women and children of all ages and backgrounds with safety, warmth and security.
The program runs from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and is on a first come, first serve basis.
“Our goal is to provide a warm place for the homeless during the winter time, especially with the cold weather coming up. So, we actually extended it two extra weeks,” said organizer Erik Guillory.
“It’s just to give them a warm place to stay. We feed them breakfast and we feed them dinner. We get them clothing if they need coats, socks, or underwear through donations. We also give them someone to talk to and set them up with counseling and we have individuals that volunteer to come in and just socialize and talk with them.”
The three churches operate on a rotating basis, with one church acting as the host church of the program per week until the first week of spring.
“This year, we have also set it up so that if some of the homeless people have dogs, we have a kennel for them so they don’t have to leave their dogs out in the cold or anything like that,” said Guillory.
“I think it’s going to be a little bit larger this year than last year. It has seemed to be growing a little bit each year. We had like 18 people last year. We’re figuring we’re going to have about 20 to maybe 25 people this year, a mix of men and women.”
The Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene, located at 6 Rogers Avenue, kicked off this year’s Nights of Hospitality as the first host church. The church will open the program as host church for an 11-day span, from December 26 through January 5.
St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church will host the program from January 6 through January 12. St. Patrick’s can be found at 84 High Street in the town.
After the program shifts back to the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene for the week of January 13 through January 19, the Bridge Church in Onset will open from January 20 through January 26.
The Bridge Church, located at 15 Highland Avenue, is slated to host the program for just one other week in the winter, from March 3 until March 9.
Guillory says that the churches are constantly looking for volunteers to help out with the program. He says that female volunteers especially needed this year.
“We usually have one male and one female that sleep over. This year, we’re running short on females that can sleep over. They don’t have to sleep in a room with the homeless, but we have an area where they can spend the night so that if there was an issue or a problem we’d have somebody there. Because we house women we have to have a female sleep over as well,” Guillory said.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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