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Room In the Inn: The Story and How YOU Can Get Involved
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Brentwood Baptist Church embarks on its 19th year of service alongside Room In The Inn providing shelter, meals, showers, clothes and basic necessities to Nashville’s homeless, on Monday nights in Wilson Hall during the coldest time of the year.
In the winter of 1986, Father Charlie Strobel, an inner-city parish priest, noticed families spending the night in cars, in the church parking lot, turning the engines on and off throughout the night to run the heaters and then coming to the rectory door in the morning and asking for money for gasoline.
Unable to sleep at night while these people were out suffering, he decided to open the church cafeteria as a shelter, with the help of church volunteers, it stayed open from Thanksgiving through Easter.
Room In The Inn, now working out of a large old warehouse building near downtown, provides food and shelter each night in over 150 area congregations from November 1st to March 31st for up to 225 people a night.
Each day, about 15 churches, offering shelter that night, are listed on a large board. As homeless people report to Room in the Inn, they are entered into a computer system, assigning them to one of the churches at random. Each church then provides transportation, a hot evening meal and breakfast, and a warm, safe place to sleep and even shower facilities.
Last year, 29,373 volunteers who offer the gift of hospitality, through their time, energy, and resources provided 11,030 hours and drove 155,242 miles in order to offer safe shelter for the homeless in Nashville. More than 72,000 meals were served and beds were provided to over 1,000 individuals of whom 46% were first time guests.
God continues to use local volunteers to impact Nashville’s homeless through Room in the Inn and Brentwood Baptist Church. What an impact YOU could make for “the least of these.” Contact Scott Cameron at scottcameron@comcast.net or call 479-5764 for more information on how you can volunteer.
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