By Michelle Hines
SPiN Café saw another year of tremendous growth in 2022. This is both good news and challenging. The good news is that our community, including our supporters, community churches and funders, has become more and more involved with SPiN Café. The challenge is that we are seeing increasing numbers of homeless and low-income (working poor) individuals in our community.
Here are our guest numbers for the past three years:
Welcome to Spring!
2022 got off to a frigid start in Oak Harbor, but SPiN was able to step up and offer round-the-clock shelter for two weeks courtesy of our hosts at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. For more on that story, take a look here:
In the first four months of 2022, SPiN provided 2,442 lunches – at St. Stephen’s during the week and at Hal Ramaley Park on weekends – and served on all 120 days in those months, for an average a little over 20 meals a day.
Continue reading “First quarter service report “Michele Chapman made the introduction, with a twist. SPiN Cafe’s Executive Director, full of gratitude and admiration, presented David Thorson, saying: “You can’t be The Morning Person without being a morning person.”
It sounds obvious, but it’s still impressive. Not everyone can pull off what David Thorson does, with the enthusiasm David brings with him every morning. And he’s so matter of fact when he describes arriving at SPiN daily at 6AM. Listen close, and you’ll hear the smile in his voice.
“I unlock, prepare SPiN for guests to arrive, get the coffee going, breakfast and snacks ready.” And most important, David says, “I’m there to make SPiN Cafe comfortable and safe for our guests. Especially safe. That means sometimes I have to go over our code of conduct with them, and when I do, it’s all about safety.”
Continue reading ““It’s a win, right?””As our fall weather gets wetter and colder, SPiN’s guests find themselves more in need than ever of shelter and warmth. And as our days get shorter and darker, SPiN continues to be a beacon of friendship, dignity, and hope.
The last 6 months have been a blessing not only to the guests that come to SPiN, but also to those of us who serve. We re-opened our doors on February 3, 2021 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church adding the Day Shelter to our Sack Lunch program. The Day Shelter is open from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday through Friday and provides a safe, dry place for people to rest, access wi-fi, get beverages, snacks and lunch. Many of our guests arrive first thing in the morning from The Haven, some come to us on the transit bus or on foot, and some by private vehicle.
Continue reading “SPiN Cafe: a vital resource!”