Description: During the months of July and August, interested church volunteer teams are invited to sign up for 2 to 5 day summer service projects that are also immersion experiences into the world of the homeless. During the day, teams would work at the various ministries. In the evening, they would sleep at Andrew’s Place, F.’s 20 bed emergency shelter for the elderly, which will be closed during those months.

Intended to mirror as much as possible the experience of being homeless in Delaware, these projects are not for the faint of heart. To accomplish this, evenings at Andrew’s Place will approximate as closely as possible the experience of the regular homeless residents.

In addition to volunteer ministry and a hands-on experience of shelter life, each service project can also include a tour of all the Friendship House ministries and a half-day street retreat.

Objective: The summer service projects have three main objectives:

· Enabling people to volunteer their labor in ministry to the homeless
· Helping participants build community
· Letting each person experience the strict regimen of a homeless lifestyle first hand.

Participation: In the summer of 2003, twenty-seven member of Ebenezer United Methodist Church participated in a week-long service project. Three churches have already scheduled summer service projects for the summer of 2004.