Come Share Your Thoughts on Share

The Share shelter at the Gift of Grace Lutheran Church in Wallingford opened its doors over a month ago to mixed reaction from the local community. The first of two public forums sponsored by the church to discuss shelter related issues took place on September 18th. If you were not able to attend that meeting, you can read a summary of the discussion or take a look at meeting notes on the church website.

At the first public forum, a proposal was made to create a small team of concerned parties to review the shelter and its impact on the community. Among the team’s priorities is monitoring progress towards getting positive identification of long term shelter residents. The review team includes church members, preschool parents, neighbors, and local police. The following individuals are currently serving as team members:

• Mark Mirabile – Wallingford neighbor, Huckleberry Forest preschool parent
• Valerie Hunt – Wallingford neighbor
• Lauren Street – Community police (not present at the 9/18 meeting)
• Jocelyn Skillman – Gift of Grace church member
• Tim Linnemann – Gift of Grace church member (not present at the 9/18 meeting)
• Mark Kanning – Wallingford neighbor, Huckleberry Forest preschool parent
• TBD – SHARE resident (not present at the 9/18 meeting)

If you are interested in getting an update on the shelter or would like to participate in the community discussion, a second public forum will be held this Saturday October 22 at 10:30am a the Mosaic Coffeehouse. With his permission, I’ve re-printed an email sent by Pastor Jami Fecher to members of the community:

Dear Wallingford Neighbors,

At the SHARE information meeting on September 12th I agreed to schedule two public forums. I invite you to the second of the two this Saturday, 10:30 AM –12:00 PM at Mosaic Coffee house, on the corner of 2nd NE and 44th NE (right behind Dick’s Hamburgers). The purpose of the meeting is to hear a report from the ad hoc team formed at the last forum (Sept 18th) and to perhaps begin a discussion on how we understand ourselves as Wallingford neighbors and how the homeless population figures into this self-understanding.  Mosaic Coffee house will not be open, but a staff person will serve us drip coffee. No RSVP’s required.

In community,
Jami Fecher, pastor, Gift of Grace Lutheran Church