Hello Alameda. Welcome to the Island City Beat Podcast. I'm your host, Angie Watson-Hajjem. One Of the things I really enjoy doing here on our podcast is highlighting the wonderful work that people here are doing on our island, helping to improve our community and the people who are living here. On today's show, we'll be talking about Alameda's Warming Shelter and meet two people who are a part of this program, which has since 2018 provided a safe, clean, warm place for homeless individuals escaping the cold over winter months, not only providing them with a place to stay, but also supportive services as well.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:So with that, let me introduce you to my two guests today, John Brennan and Alisa Rasera-Holden Holden. They are part of the warming shelter and are here to talk to us about the good things that are going on over there. Hello, John. Hello, Alisa. Welcome to Island City Beat podcast.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Thank you so much for being here.
John Brennan:You're welcome. Thanks for inviting us.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Yeah, absolutely. So I know that you are members of the Christ Episcopal Church, actually runs the shelter. And I would love for you to tell us a little bit about how you guys started this process of opening up your space to provide the shelter, and then just really what inspired your whole community to do this wonderful activity that you do.
John Brennan:Lisa, you want to start off? You were here that first two years.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Yeah. So this project began in 2018 in collaboration and partnership with the city of Alameda. And I'm trying to remember if we brought the idea to them or if they brought it to us.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:I honestly I can't remember if I'm think
John Brennan:actually Building Futures came to us
John Brennan:because we had space.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:It did. Yes.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Yes. That's right. We had space.
John Brennan:It was a third party who staffed the shelter.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Correct. Yeah. So we they were our operating partner for a couple of years. And at the time, the shelter was very different from the way it what it from what it has evolved to today. We were a winter warming shelter open depending on what the weather was like.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:So if it went below 43 degrees or was a 50% chance of rain, we would be open. Gradually, that became problematic. Well, it was problematic, actually, all along. It was great if we were able to get people there that knew we were open. But you know our weather changes quickly here.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:So it was a very inconsistent pattern, and it made it very confusing for the guests to know if we were going to be open or not. It was also hard to get regular volunteers then to provide meals as well as the employed staff to depend on their work. So we continued to fundraise and evolve and give our feedback of what we really saw the need was, as we know the need keeps growing as well. So, we eventually were we stayed with the weather dependency for a bit, but we had one consistent always open on Mondays, I think it was. Then we grew the Mondays to also Thursdays.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Then finally, I think it was somewhere mid pandemic, we were able to become a seven day a week operation.
John Brennan:Actually, this happened by accident.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Really? By accident? What happened?
John Brennan:Well, at least as you recall, we didn't really plan it. And so we were closed for the pandemic year. We were not allowed by the county to operate. We're not hearing you at the moment, but I'll fill in.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Okay, cool.
John Brennan:So the next year, the winter of, I think it was twenty twenty one-twenty twenty two, it was very rainy and we had started with our will only be open nights when it's cold and rainy and then two fixed nights a week. But both Alisa and I woke up early one morning and it was pouring rain and it was cold, and we just thought we just can't send these folks out into the rain. And so we texted each other and said, we're just going to stay open during the day, and we'll find volunteers to monitor this, to essentially staff the shelter during the day. Building Futures, Actually, it was a different organization building consortium of the East Bay staffing it during the evening.
John Brennan:We volunteer staffing it during the day, and we also decided that we were going to find a way to stay open seven days, seven nights a week.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Wow.
John Brennan:And we made that call on the fly, and just with the faith that the community would respond, and they did.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:They did. So you guys are open seven days a week. And what are the hours of operation for the shelter? And then also how long, It's not a year long shelter program, right? It's like from December to March, is that right?
John Brennan:Yeah, so it started December through March. This year it's December through April, and actually that first year where we're open seven nights a week, it was December through April for a reason that I'll explain in a moment. We stayed open days as well, and we got volunteers to staff the shelter during the day, and professional paid staff to staff it during the evening. Alisa was instrumental in all this, especially in getting community volunteers to sign up for, at that point, dinners, breakfast, and lunches. And we had a lot of pizza lunches during that time, which was OK.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:You must be talking about 2023.
John Brennan:Well, this was 'twenty one to 'twenty two, the winter of that first-
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Oh, yeah, yeah.
John Brennan:Then we were originally well, we weren't supposed to be open seven nights a week, but the city came through with funding. Generous community members and parishioners came through with funding, and we were able to fund seven nights a week and seven days a week for that year. We originally only supposed to be open through the March, but that was the year that Dignity Village was going to open, and we had hoped that a number of our guests would successfully transition to Dignity Village. So, we all agreed that and Dignity Village was supposed to open on May 1. So, we agreed that the shelter would stay open through April and then into May and we had five or six folks who successfully transitioned to Dignity Village for long term transitional health.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:That is wonderful. Good work. So how do people access your shelter program? If folks are out there who don't have a place to stay and whether it's a cold night or not, how can they get help from you? What does that process look like?
Alisa Rasera-Holden:So they can come at the shelter opens at five?
John Brennan:Five. Yeah.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Five. Yeah. And they can come, and if they're new a new guest, they can check-in with the staff, they do a little intake form and then they're welcome to come back, you know, as long as they're agreeable to the rules of the house. And we do have people that will stay the whole season. We have folks that have come back multiple years in a row and we feel like we know them.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:They're kind of like family to us. Wow, that's great. They're part of our community and I also wanna say back in the day, at the beginning, we had a reservation system. They actually did know who was coming in advance because they do the intakes in advance. And then eventually that all went away and it became a first come first serve come to the door.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:And sometimes we have to turn people away because we're at capacity. We're beyond capacity this season.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Oh, I'm sure. So people just come to Christ Episcopal Church. They're right there on Santa Clara And Grand at 05:00 in the evening. If there is space, they can go in and they'll have it bare for the night and they have to leave the next morning, I assume.
John Brennan:By seven.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Yes, 07:00 in the morning. Okay, all right.
John Brennan:And and we're what's called a low barrier shelter, which means unless that you unless you're on Megan's list, you are you you are qualified to to spend the night at the shelter if we have capacity. This year we have run at capacity more days than any other year, which is you hope we open and nobody shows up because the need isn't there. But this year our capacity is 25, and occasionally we have stretched beyond 25 for an evening. It's just a matter of capacity in the parish hall when people put down their pads to sleep for the night at around nine or 10PM. 10PM is when quiet hours begin until six when people wake up and get their breakfast.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:And so people in the community.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:It has become a real word-of-mouth situation as well, like word on the street. And people know each other, you know, that are unhoused often. And, know, there were years where for the first couple of weeks, we'd have like just a couple of people and the weather would be going, it was winter. And it was so baffling to us because we were like, why aren't they coming? How do we get them here?
Alisa Rasera-Holden:How do we find them? And I don't know if John already said this, but we would take out teams from our community, our church community, and do some outreach and give out flyers and Starbucks gift cards and just try to talk to people and let them know. And that still is done, but I feel like people know about it more. The first week this year, we did not have a small group, grew very quickly, which again is not the goal. We don't want this to be like
Angie Watson-Hajjem:You don't want to grow.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Yeah, we're really grateful that we can provide the space, that we have the space and capacity to serve.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:It is wonderful. You guys are doing
John Brennan:And the shelter is listed on the city's website. It's listed on our website. If anyone calls 211, which is the Alameda County homeless hotline, they can also get referred to the shelter through that hotline, calling 211.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Now, do you serve families or it's just single men and women at the shelter?
John Brennan:Right now, it's just single men & women.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:We serve adults.
John Brennan:One year when we had an extra room available, we did serve families because they have to be in a separate room if there's if they're below 18.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Yeah.
John Brennan:But we also host head start at our church and that room now is the infant room. So we really can't commingle it. It's just adults.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:I noticed that you refer to your clients as guests and not clients, and I'm just curious why that is. Why are they guests to you and not merely clients?
John Brennan:Because they are guests. I mean, they're guests in our space and we welcome them as whole human beings. We're providing them with shelter. We're providing them with a meal the same way you would provide any guest in your home. We're also getting to know their names, and we're getting to know their backgrounds and their histories to the extent that they want to share.
John Brennan:We aren't This year though, we were able to fund a part time case manager who meets with every shelter guest to find out what their issues are that can help them make the path back to more sustainable living. Guests just seems warmer, more inviting than client. Not that client is a bad word. We use that in other contexts sometimes, but guest just seems it sets the right tone for the shelter.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Can you share with us?
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Yeah, we really have tried to
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Oh, go on Lisa.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:We've really tried to create a culture of care in the environment where folks that are coming in with, you know, whatever they're coming in with, with, you know, lots of different needs, or maybe it's a very new and temporary situation for them. We just want them to feel welcome. And so we extend that through, yeah, the terminology through our interactions and through how we serve. Like we we think really carefully about, you know, how to guide our volunteers with meals. It's not coming to the drive thru.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:You know? It's it's really what kind of a healthy meal and how can we diversify the meals throughout the season? How can we just make this really make them feel valued and important. Mhmm. That's important to us that that message comes through.
John Brennan:All of our meal donors and volunteers, which again, Alisa organizes through an online platform, they're all wonderful. Most of them elect to actually serve the meal to our guests directly. Some just drop it off and that's perfectly fine, but most come and actually serve the meal. That includes Boy and Girl Scout troops. That includes youth groups local organizations, especially other faith based organizations.
John Brennan:So they interact directly with our guests. Some actually sit down at table and eat with our guests.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Wow, I have a story to share with you, John, about
Alisa Rasera-Holden:It's a very intergenerational. Thing.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Yeah. Well,
Angie Watson-Hajjem:I just want to share that I'm a member of Live Oak Fellowship here in Alameda. And I know that a bunch of us got together I think it was January year and we got together to provide food. And we came to your church, and we served the guests. And it was such an amazing experience.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:We all had such a wonderful time getting to talk to the folks there, sitting down at the table, getting to know them, laughing. And it was so cool. I was telling Alisa the other day I was talking to her. When I was leaving, I was saying goodbye to everybody, and they clapped. They gave me applause.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:I was like, I just wanted to cry. It was just so hard for me. So if anyone, you know, wants to have their heart filled with joy, this is a great way of making that happen. Going and providing food and serving and talking to these wonderful guests. It's just was such a We're going to do it again, too.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Love this summer. We're going to come back. I know you guys provide the shelter, a nice, clean bed, warm bed for people to sleep in, but you also provide other services, too. So tell us a little bit about the support services that the warming shelter offers to guests who come through your shelter.
John Brennan:We Talked about that being able to add case manager, which is an experienced employee of the Pascal Community Services, which is our staffing partner for two staff people for the swing shift and then two for the nighttime shift. But we also are doing, and Alisa will talk about the other things that we've been doing, and actually one thing we're very proud to add this year.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Yeah, so we we have a shower program that is now six years into the program, I think six. Which is amazing. And this year we were able and the shower program is open on Sunday afternoons to anyone that it's a first come first serve. We. At one point we were for the first six years were able to offer.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:I think two hours of showers, so you know, sometimes again people get turned away, But this year, we have added a third shower. So now we're accommodating, like, 34 people
John Brennan:And a third hour.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:And a third hour. Yeah. And again, that is volunteer run every Sunday afternoon. And then for our shelter guests,
John Brennan:that Includes lunch.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:So Get lunch and a shower.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Lunch. Yes. A bagged lunch, lunch and a shower, and, you know, just warm folks to talk to. Then the shelter guests can also utilize that program on Thursday evenings. That's not open to everybody that you have to be staying at the shelter to use it on Thursdays right now.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:And then additionally, we were able to start a laundry program. So folks that are staying at the shelter can do their laundry while they're staying there. If they shower, then they can actually have clean clothes to get into after. This was a really, exciting project. We talked about it for many years because it didn't make sense that, you know, folks would come and have the opportunity to shower, but then not have clean clothes to put back on.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:So, again, we had some very generous donors help make this happen. And Steven Mikhail, our rector, really moved this project forward. And it was about a year into, you know, from beginning to end. And now we have three machines.
John Brennan:Yeah. Three machines.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Is that right?
John Brennan:Yep. Yeah. Exactly.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Three machines, three washers and three dryers. So those are two really impactful programs that services that also support the unhoused community.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:I know you both are part of your church's social justice committee, I just love for you to talk a little bit about the work that you're doing on that committee. And I know you guys have your Thanksgiving, annual Thanksgiving dinner that you do every year. I've gone a couple of times as well. But talk a little bit about your committee and what you're doing right now currently and what you want to do. What is your vision in the future, what you would like to do within your work there as Social Justice Warriors?
John Brennan:Sure. Well, so for us, justice is living out the gospel. It's taking what Jesus imparted to us, the teachings, the learnings, the examples he provided, and us being his hands, his eyes, his hearts on earth. Putting our faith into action. Social justice means that we have the capability, the will, the resources to provide for others who find themselves down on their luck and if we can help with that and it's enough that we just provide shelter and lodging and care but if we can also provide some step up for them to improve their lot that's fabulous as well.
John Brennan:Showers is part of that meals is part of that The shelter is part of that. Laundry is part of that. The Thanksgiving meal is part of that. We have a community garden that provides food for the food bank is part of that, and we have a cause of the month where we invite in community groups, nonprofits to speak about their contribution to the community, and we take up a collection that month for that community group. It's our way of making sure that our impact on the community is not limited to one hour on Sunday.
John Brennan:That it is hopefully 20 fourseven, especially in our local community.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Lisa, I'd to ask you, many people might have memberships at different churches and synagogues and temples and mosques here in Alameda, but they don't have the space or capacity to run a shelter program as you do. What advice or what ideas would you be able to share with those folks who want to do something? They can't run a shelter, but they want to do something. What could they do that would be helpful to our neighbors who are in distress, who are homeless, and really having a lot of struggles just surviving day to day?
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Yeah, well, like you said, there's quite a few faith homes in Alameda and some have more space than others. Some have capacity to kind of hold a program like what we do. And that's how we were able to extend. And we always put the invitation out. We've been doing that forever.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:If you're interested, we'd love to have you as a community partner. So Trinity Lutheran and New Bridges have been really amazing partners. They do have the space and they do have the bandwidth to be hosts. And that's a piece of it, an important piece of it. Now, you know, being advocates, we can all do that in the community.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Like we can make sure that we are speaking out on behalf of, you know, the voices that aren't being heard that are in need and make sure that you know resources are continued continuing to to come through the city and be available. I think that if there isn't space for a shelter like what we're talking about, I think there's other ways to provide depending on you know what your community interests are. I mean, we have a program that we didn't mention because it's in a little bit of transmission right now called Alameda lunch elves, and that started during the pandemic when, we were no longer we were one of the sites for the food bank for food pantry distribution on on Thursdays, Thursdays, Tuesdays anyway. And then that came to a halt. That community of volunteers that really loved coming and doing this work together.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:We couldn't do that because we weren't able to be together and do that kind of food distribution. So Alameda Lunch Elves kind of developed and people would make brown bag lunches at their home.
John Brennan:And then development because Alisa and a partner made it develop.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:What'd you say, John?
John Brennan:They're trying to develop because Alisa and a partner made it develop.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Alisa, I think you're a rock star, sounds like. I mean, you've got it going on there.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:No, no, I just have a lot of ideas and then other people do the hard work. But yeah. And so, I mean, when I think back to literally there was a truck that would pull up for, I think it was Operation Dignity that would do street outreach. They'd receive the lunches in the parking lot in our church and then they'd go do the distribution. But it was like all this underground feeling type of work, but that's how it starts.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:It has to kind of start grass roots and then you see what can happen. So I think if there are people sitting with desire and energy towards doing anything like that, just to, you know, even have conversations with us, like you never know what ideas will spark. And one of the biggest learning curves for us is asking directly to people in need, what do you need? What would serve, what can we do? How can we help you?
Alisa Rasera-Holden:And sometimes the answers aren't possible, but I do believe that without having the conversation that we don't know. It's easy to make assumptions about what people need. We know that basic needs are, you know. Safety, housing, food, water, clothing, like those things. So I think carefully thinking about what is the implementation of programs like that and the where, like where would it be most useful on the island?
Alisa Rasera-Holden:We have a nice central location that's helpful, but transportation is an ongoing challenge for how are we going to help people get to where they need to go next during the day.
John Brennan:People can go to our website and there's a wish list on the website for materials that we need for our shower and our laundry program. Obviously cash contributions are always great because we can turn those around, donations of clean socks in particular. Underwear. Yeah, underwear and all that's listed on the website. Signing up for the meals that Alisa organizes both dinners and breakfast to bag breakfast.
John Brennan:The lunch elves will resume, I think, and signing up for that.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Yay, lunch elves.
John Brennan:Yeah, exactly. Also, signing up to be a shower volunteer. Not just parishioners who volunteer at the showers, it's community members. There's lots of opportunities to have a direct impact. Finally, as Alisa was saying, when you see somebody on the street, say hello.
John Brennan:Hello, Yeah. My name is John. What's your name? So, there's a great book written by a San Franciscan, Matthew Adler, called When We Walk By. And he makes a huge point in there that homelessness is not just a factor of economic issues.
John Brennan:It's also a factor of social isolation. So when you can connect with somebody on the street or at the shelter when you're serving a meal, and let them know that you recognize their humanity, that's huge.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:It's huge, huge. I have to say, I try to do that when I'm out on my walks, I see people out there who I know are homeless. They maybe have a shopping cart. They're looking disgruntled. I just try to catch their eye and just smile and say hi.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:And sometimes I get a high back. It's such a warm feeling. Just to be recognized as a human being. It's just great. Well, you guys are just wonderful.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:I just thank you so much for the work that you're doing here in Alameda. And for those of you out there listening who want to get involved, who want to volunteer, who want to give money or time, you can go to the Christ Episcopal Church. You have a website, or you can probably just Google, and your website will probably come up these days. Very easy. You can go and sign up and help your neighbors.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:And for those of you who are in need of shelter, you can go to Christ Episcopal Church right there on Santa Clara on Grant, big beautiful church down the corner. Get there at 05:00 in the evening. And if you are able to get in space wise, you'll be able to stay the night and then come back and be with some really caring people. So thank you, John. Thank you, Alisa.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Oh, you want say one more thing, John?
John Brennan:Yeah, just want to make sure that we say thank you to the City of Alameda because we're partnered with them. They provide about two thirds of the funding. Thank you to community funders who make donations that enable us to operate with the other provide the other third of the funds. Thank you to Trinity Lutheran and New Bridges Methodist for hosting two weeks each. It's absolutely wonderful for this to be a community thing.
John Brennan:Obviously thank you to all the volunteers who provided meals and thank you to Episcopal Community Services who has run shelters in the city and county of San Francisco for forty years and is our staffing partner. They know their stuff and they provide this great balance of care but with also structure, which is the key to success in the shelter.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Yeah. And also a big shout out to World Centric because they provide us, they help us keep this a green situation with tons and tons of compostable paper products, because it does take a lot of supplies to navigate through the five months. And we try to be very respectful of the earth as we do this.
John Brennan:And finally, we have lots and lots of community volunteers, many of whom are parishioners, but not all of whom are parishioners that make the meals, the shower program, the laundry program, our Thanksgiving meal, our community garden, all of this work.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:It's a team effort. I know that you
Alisa Rasera-Holden:It takes a fleet helping him.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:It takes a village. I tell you, the loving village to do all this. Well, John, Alisa, once again, thank you so much for coming on the show, and thank you so much for the work that you're doing in the world.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Please do continue. It is so needed.
John Brennan:Thank you very much, and you're very welcome Absolutely.
Alisa Rasera-Holden:Thank you, Angie.
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Thank you. And thank you all out there listening to our podcast. I hope you enjoyed the show. Hope you come back for another edition of the Island City Beat Podcast coming your way. Until then, I'm your host, Angie Watson Hajjem .
Angie Watson-Hajjem:Take care. Goodbye, everybody.