Most of the emergency winter shelters throughout King County will close this weekend, including a women’s shelter in Kent.
The Kent community concerned about women returning to streets to sleep decided to take action. A rotating overnight shelter for homeless women will open Sunday, thanks to KentHOPE, Kent United Methodist Church and Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission.
The shelter at Kent United Methodist Church, 11010 SE 248th St., will sleep up to 20 women and operate 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. seven days a week but only through April 15.
More churches in Kent are needed to host the shelter and keep women safe at night through October.
The city of Kent has one of the largest homeless populations behind Seattle. The KentHOPE Day Center has helped 60 homeless women since opening in mid-December. With the help of the Day Center, many women have already found employment and housing but many more need assistance.
The rotating women’s shelter will the continuum of care so that many more women can get back on their feet and out of homelessness.
“Many of these homeless women we know through our KentHOPE Day Center and it broke our hearts at the thought of them sleeping outside,” says Nate Lanting, emergency services administrator for Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. “We are called to help those in greatest need by first providing the essentials of food, shelter and safety. Only then can we help them move into lasting change in their lives.”
Churches willing to host the overnight women’s shelter for one month or needing addition information, please contact Pat Gray at pat.gray5@comcast.net.
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