Safe Harbor Opens Quietly

Safe Harbor of Grand Traverse quietly opened for its 11th season a few days back – a day after the region saw its first snowflakes – going about its mission of providing overnight emergency shelter to homeless individuals during the cold weather months.

The “quiet” is a stark contrast to the months-long controversy over a proposed 90-bed permanent emergency homeless shelter the organization hopes to create at 517 Wellington Street (adjacent to the Boardman Neighborhood) by next winter. It’s a debate Mayor Michael Estes recently described as the “most controversial issue” he’d seen before the City Commission.

From November through April, a network of 13 local churches and 23 participating congregations take week-long turns hosting guests and providing dinner, a warm place to sleep and breakfast – all run by volunteers (some 2,100) and donations.

“We typically open (and close) the season at our smaller host churches because we don’t expect as many people,” says Christie Minervini, a Safe Harbor board member. However, the organization is down three host churches this year because “the numbers we expect are higher than the smaller churches can safely accommodate.”

The season opened on November 1 at Traverse Bay United Methodist Church on Ramsdell Road, which has a capacity of 47 people. They were averaging 25 guests a night these first few days of the season.

“We are significantly down from last year's opening,” says Minervini, “but we opened a week later (Nov. 9) to bitterly cold and snowy weather in 2013.”

The volunteers running Safe Harbor this week are actually not members of the host church, but instead are from Traverse City Church of Christ. Now in its fourth year participating in the shelter program, the congregation found a way to help despite not having a large enough facility to host the shelter.

Dave Spears is the coordinator of the Church of Christ volunteers – which number between 25 and 35 and do everything from cooking and serving to staying overnight – and sits on the Safe Harbor board as the congregation’s representative. He says for as thankful as the guests are for the accommodations and food, so is his group of volunteers for the partnership with Traverse Bay United Methodist that allows them to be involved.

As part of a community outreach effort, Safe Harbor is hosting “Meet Our Neighbors” on Nov. 19 during Homelessness Awareness Week. It will show “Storied Streets,” a documentary that was shown at this year’s Traverse City Film Festival, at 6:30pm at the Traverse Area District Library. The film will be followed by a panel discussion with several local people who have experienced homelessness.

Today (Fri., Nov. 7), the First Friday celebration at the Grand Traverse Commons will offer financial support to Safe Harbor, with participating merchants donating 10 percent of sales from the evening to the organization. Look for the Safe Harbor logo near the register to find participating retailers, wineries and eateries.