“Great news from SPiN Café,” the email began. That’s always worth an immediate look.
And great news it was.
SPiN Café Executive Director Michele Hines announced on February 5 to our partner churches that SPiN has been awarded a three-year grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) totaling just over $635,000. The grant is renewable annually after three years.
The funds will allow SPiN to lease our own location where we can serve our guests 7 days a week. We have not identified the place yet, but we’re searching for one that will allow laundry services and showers too, under one roof, fulfilling a vision that was born when SPiN was founded 11 years ago.
Our local Whidbey News Times covered the story on Wednesday, February 8.
HUD recently granted nearly $315 Million nationwide through its Continuum of Care program, including over $9 Million to agencies across Washington state. The grants are intended for nonprofits and local governments to minimize trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness, to promote access to services, and to optimize self-sufficiency among citizens experiencing homelessness.
Executive Director Hines was thrilled as she ticked off what’s funded by the new grant. It provides a groundbreaking level of support and stability unseen in SPiN’s history.
“The purpose of the grant is to fund a lease at a new location where we can be open 7 days a week. In addition, it will allow us to expand programming, provide private meeting spaces for our guests, and have showers and laundry equipment installed. It will cover rent, overhead, some staffing, staff development, and program development for our clients such as rental application fees, Life Skills classes, gas vouchers, and bus tickets.”
As a new chapter beckons, Hines knows SPiN may well have disappeared without help from St. Stephen’s. “As SPiN Executive Director, I am extremely grateful to St. Stephen’s for allowing us to use the parish hall Monday – Friday for two years. The church has only charged us a utility fee, allowing us to grow our programming and services while offering a warm, dry, safe space for our guests. We could not have done what we have done without their support. The church has also given their blessing for SPiN to be the Emergency Night Shelter the last two winters during snow/freezing weather events. Our guests have also expressed thankfulness that the church has opened its doors to them—people who are often invisible to others.”
Hines noted, with gratitude, that Oak Harbor’s First United Methodist has opened up their basement this winter to SPiN staff and guests on the weekends. “So we’ve been open every day, just in separate locations. The new location, when we find it, will be ours 7 days a week and we won’t be sharing space with other users.”
Hines cautioned that SPiN will still rely on strong community support, as we have since 2012. Federal dollars don’t change the fact that SPiN has local roots, is locally managed, and serves members of our local Whidbey community.
“We will still have staffing and supply costs to cover. And we would love to see more of the community volunteer effort that’s been so strong for us all along, from our many partner churches and dozens of private citizens.”
Hines was eager to recognize Nick Mondau and Lisa Glaeser at the Washington State Department of Commerce, who assisted in coordinating the grant application to HUD in October of last year. “They were instrumental in working on the grant language,” she said. “I just want to be sure to give them credit!”
SPiN has not heard from HUD yet regarding specific timing of the funds. Meanwhile, the search is on for a new home and a new chapter for SPiN Café.