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Ecumenical Council Pasadena Area Churches

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Friends In Deed - ECPAC
A trusted community leader
striving to reduce poverty and homelessness in the Pasadena area.

Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter

Homelessness Shelter • Operation • Staffing • Advisory Board • Volunteers
Funding • History • Annual Report

A program of the Ecumenical Council/Friends In Deed, the Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter provides shelter for homeless individuals and families each night in January and February. It is also weather activated (40 degrees or below or 40% chance of rain) from the day after Thanksgiving until the end of December, and from the first of March until the 15th of March. The Bad Weather Shelter is located in the gymnasium of the Pasadena Covenant Church, 539 N. Lake, next to the Fire Station, and near the Gold line.

Homelessness in Pasadena

The 2008 Pasadena Homeless Count recorded that there were 983 homeless individuals on the streets of Pasadena on a given night. The number has decreased (approximately 16%) since 2005 and has increased slightly over 2007 (969 people).

During the 2007-2008 season, the Bad Weather Shelter housed 619 unduplicated individuals over the course of 68 days. This includes 383 men, 155 women, 42 girls and 39 boys. The 2008 Bad Weather Shelter report will be available in June, 2008.

During the 2006-7 season we served 595 individuals, including 89 children. 46% of the homeless we served were “chronically homeless”, that is, they had been homeless for one year or more or had experienced four episodes of homelessness in one year. The majority of children (58%) were under 4 years of age.

How the Shelter Operates
The Bad Weather Shelter is a high tolerance shelter. At 7 pm families with children are admitted to the shelter, registered and fed a hot meal by volunteers. At 8 PM individual adult guests are admitted, registered, and fed. Guests leave the shelter by 7AM each morning. There is no discrimination due to race, sexual orientation, gender, ancestry, national origin, legal status, or disabilities. To find out if the shelter is open, call the hotline, 1-888-915-8111. For all other questions, call 626-797-2402.

Staffing
The shelter is staffed by professionals who are experienced with the homeless, mentally ill and drug addicted populations. Several work as professionals at Union Station, Lake Avenue Foundation and Passageways. A nurse from Passageways/Pacific Clinics provides flu shots, health evaluations and palliative care. Special programs include Twelve Step Programs, Foot Washing (Pasadena Covenant), and Women Talk (All Saints Women’s Issues Committee).

BWS Director: David Kotce
Assistant Director: William Shelby
Assistant Director: Kari Herwig
Homeless Outreach Workers: Kitty Galt, Ruben Gallegos

Advisory Board
Wayne Walker, Pasadena Covenant Church
Ron Grassmann, New Hope Christian Fellowship
Jan Ratliff, Pasadena Covenant Church
Leo Hurtado, Lake Avenue Foundation
Linnie Riboli, Lake Avenue Foundation
Kitty Galt, Passageways/Pacific Clinics
John Depew, City of Pasadena Housing Department
Ann Lansing, City of Pasadena Housing Department
Roz Lindstrom, Administrative Staff
David Kotce, Program Director
Pat O’Reilly, Executive Director

Volunteers- 2007-2008
All Saints Episcopal Church
Altadena Baptist Church
Christ the Shepherd Lutheran Church
Church of the Ascension, Episcopal, Sierra Madre
City of Pasadena Housing Department
Church of Our Saviour Episcopal Church, San Gabriel
Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church
First Congregational Church of Pasadena
First United Methodist Church of Pasadena
Food for Body and Soul
Hill Avenue/Grace Lutheran Church
La Canada Assisteens
Lake Avenue Church
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Arcadia
New Hope Christian Fellowship Messiah Lutheran Church
Pasadena Covenant Church Lake Avenue Church
Pasadena Presbyterian Church
St. Edmunds Episcopal Church, San Marino
St. Elizabeth’s Roman Catholic Church
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Trinity Lutheran Church
USC Transplant Unit

Funding

The majority of the funding for the Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter comes from the City of Pasadena Emergency Shelter funds. The remaining funds come from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, individual and church donations and the Fall ECPAC/Bad Weather Shelter Fundraiser.

Twenty-two volunteer groups from churches and other agencies provide healthy, hot meals for our clients each night. We average 100 clients a night, and at times serve up to 150 clients. 

History of the Bad Weather Shelter

The Bad Weather Shelter first opened in 1986 in response to the emergency needs of homeless persons in Pasadena. These were individuals who for a variety of reasons lacked adequate refuge during the cold and wet winter months. The shelter was located at the Salvation Army gymnasium until 1989 and then moved to its present location in the gymnasium of the Pasadena Covenant Church.

The first director of the shelter was Dr. Joe Colletti whose vision, care and energy made the shelter possible. In 1989 the shelter became an official program of the Ecumenical Council of the Pasadena Area Churches (ECPAC).

Annual Report
2006-7 Report (pdf)
2007-8 Report (pdf)