WHITE FLAG AT FBC

A few weeks ago, our church was asked to consider serving as a White Flag shelter for women during the upcoming winter months. Wake County provides various temporary emergency shelter sites for people experiencing homelessness on nights when the temperature drops below 35 degrees. The county does everything involved with housing people in a space — providing the staff to set up cots, staying overnight, and providing security and a cleaning crew for all used spaces the day after. Congregations are only asked to open their doors for an empty, warm space. After much conversation and consideration, we wholeheartedly believe that our fellowship hall would be a gift for this urgent need in our community. The ministers and staff are working hard to sort through the logistics of making this happen. We will be partnering with Edenton Street UMC to house the women on dates when we have conflicts with regularly scheduled events in our fellowship hall, and to bridge a gap of time on Wednesday evenings. There’s no doubt that this is a significant ask for our time, space, and staff with many moving parts, but we are committed to doing what we can to open our space for these women in desperate need. We are asking and hoping that our congregants and all groups who share our space have a flexible posture over the next few months as we relocate and shift folks around to make this happen!

There will be a need for a small team of people who would be willing to help our custodial staff break down tables/chairs on the afternoons/evenings when we will be hosting. We will likely have a few days’ notice on projected weather, so we can plan ahead and keep volunteers informed of the nights that will be needed. If you would be willing to serve on a team that could help prepare our fellowship hall for White Flag, please contact Leah.