The Haven of Rest Ministries of Battle Creek

Our goals are to address the needs of the homeless population in SW Michigan. First, to clothe, feed and shelter the homeless, and reach out with a message of Christian Love. Beyond that, we strive to address the root causes of homelessness: drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illness. Our programs all center around an individual's ability to change and refocus, and to learn a new way of behavior that results in the ability to increase personal income, maintain permanent housing, and to improve upon their own psycho-social matrix.

The ministries that the Haven of Rest actively maintains are:

1) The Men's Shelter and Mission: Thirty to sixty (30-60) days; men's emergency homeless shelter with extensive case management and teaching of life skills
2) Inasmuch House: Thirty to sixty (30-60) days; women, children and families emergency homeless shelter and food, including teaching of life skills and extensive case management
3) Adult Foster Care (AFC): permanent housing and meals for mentally challenged, low income men
4) Calhoun County Jail Ministry: Spiritual counseling, Bible studies and support for over 600 inmates
5) Life Recovery Program (LRP): Long-term residential substance abuse treatment and education program of 6 to 12 months duration, for men, with a focus on breaking the cycle of substance abuse and homelessness, including life skills. Includes both shelter and three meals a day.
6) Women and families in New Life (WIN): A three to twenty-four month family transitional housing program, designed to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and homelessness by teaching needed life skills and credit repair. Includes both shelter and three meals a day.
7) Gain Access Program (GAP): A comprehensive after-school program for homeless children in the Haven's Inasmuch emergency shelter and WIN transitional housing program that focuses on social integration, behavior modification and tutoring.
8) The H.O.P.E. Team: The Haven's H.O.P.E. Team also distributes food and clothing to individuals living on the street as well as personal care items to homeless and at-risk people on "HOPE. Days" at the shelter and various outreach sites in the community. These “HOPE Days" occur four times a year, and include a hot meal.
9) The Veterans in Progress, or "V.I.P.": The VIP is a formal partnership between the Battle Creek Veterans Administration and the Haven of Rest. The VIP is an effort of support from the Haven to empower and enable our veterans to live optimally and independently within the Battle Creek Community.
10) Women's Life Recovery Program: Long-term residential substance abuse treatment and education program of 6 to 12 months duration, for women and their children, with a focus on breaking the cycle of substance abuse and homelessness.

The Haven can serve over 200 people (Men, women and children) per night in our shelters; average population in our shelters and programs on any given night are around 135 to 140 (2013 numbers). We serve over 84,000 meals per year, and provide over 53,000 bed-nights of shelter annually.

We are a unique shelter in that families - mothers and fathers with children, and fathers with children, can stay intact through the crisis of homelessness. Also, our Women's Life Recovery Program allows women to stay in-residence with their children through treatment and recovery, which is a unique aspect to our program on the Western Side of the State of Michigan.

The Haven's many programs continue to provide a critical safety net to the population of our Southwestern Michigan area. We see progress in being able to provide services in our community, and have expanded our services dramatically within the last few years. Is this progress? We would prefer to see a drop in homelessness and poverty in our community, however, those problems exist within an environment that is bigger than our homeless services can address. We continue to address the need, and have seen solid progress on individual cases. There is a chronic need in our community, and we can also address that. WE have seen progress in addressing the needs of women who face a substance abuse issue; prior to our Women's Life Recovery Program, we had no services available to this population.

So - a mixed report. We address the critical needs, and have expanded our ability to do so, but overall we see the need continue.