Winter Shelter Nov 2023

The Winter Shelter is a GO!

On Wednesday night, the Elgin City Council voted unanimously in favor of One Collective Elgin helping facilitate a winter shelter that will be open every night of the winter from December through March. Having the shelter open every night will help us better care for the people who are experiencing homelessness in our community. It also means that the opportunity to volunteer is more consistent. Together, we can help reduce homelessness in Elgin.

My role will be as the primary coordinator and facilitator for the shelter; overseeing supplies, volunteers, volunteer scheduling, budget tracking…and anything and everything else.

That said, I’m working on recruiting volunteers!

Right now, I’m working on a more detailed volunteer form for that people can use to sign up. Each night will have two shifts—6:30 pm through 7:30 am the following morning. The structure right now is that there will be two shifts: 1st shift will be from 6:30 pm through 12:30 am and 2nd shift will be from 12:30 am to 7:30 am. I’m hoping to get 4 people/shift. The positions I’ll be looking for are: 1 Shift Leader per shift, 3 volunteers to help man the shifts, 1 day point-person to be the point of contact for day-of volunteers, 1 weekly coach to help oversee the week and volunteers.

The Shift Leaders, Day Point-People, and Weekly Coaches will make up a Core Team who will receive more extensive training. I’ll be looking for, at most, 50 people who would make up this team. The Core Team will be broken up into Weekly Squads and be placed on a rotation. Squad 1 would work a week, Squad 2 the following, and so on on a rotation so there is always at least one person on shift who receives extensive training.

Shift point-people
- act as the main supervisor and point-person for their respective shift
- first point of contact for volunteers of their shift
- coordinate with the day point-person as needed
- Always inform Weekly Coach and Shelter Director of any and all incidents
Day point-people
- contact person in charge of filling in for any positions if a shift point-person can’t make it for their shift or if there isn’t enough volunteers for a shift
- “on-call reinforcements”
- help send reminders to the volunteers serving under their day
Coaches
- responsible for the entire week of volunteers (56 spots–4 people/shift 2 shifts/night)
- Help coordinate for the week and send reminders to day point-people
- Coaches shouldn’t be at the shelter during their respective week
- Coaches respond to critical situations
- Coaches will follow-up with Shelter Director for any and all incidents that transpire

*Responsibilities are still being hammered out*

If you’re interested and able to help in this critical role, shoot me an email!

alex.madrid@onecollective.org

10/07/2023

New Country, New Missions – August 2023

Dear Loved Ones,

Greetings. This past Friday August 11, 2023, we left our house early to go to Villa Altagracia about 2.5 hours away. We had our retreat, and it was the most blessed one. Friday upon our arrival we all went to visit the land that our sister denomination here had just purchased. We planted many fruit trees.

The nights and days were all devoted to praying and following some teachings from a Canadian Pastor, Dr. Bill Dyck.

Villa Altagracia is a small village type of place, a refuge for many Haitian immigrants with no legal papers. Here they tell me that they have many Haitians who need Shepherds. People at the retreat think that God is answering their concerns.

The retreat place has a small one-bedroom apartment they would like to finish for us to move in. We are excited about moving to the countryside. Another part of our job will be to help develop the newly acquired land for a youth camp.

Please keep praying for us.

In DR,

Yours,

Nzunga & Kihomi

Dear Supporters,

New country, New church, New Mission.

10/07/2023

Let’s Dance: Celebrate Cuba EXIT Pilot – Aug 2023

“Transiciones”
De la herida a la Vida; del dolor al olor;
de la prisa a la risa;
del llanto al canto….
de los duelos…
a los vuelos…”

“Transitions” a loose translation
From wounding to Living;
from pain to scent;
from “I’m late”to laughter;
from tears to singing….
from mourning…
to flight…”

“You have turned my mourning into dancing;

you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”

–Psalm 30: 11-12 ESV

Our first intensive training for the EXIT(Expressive Arts in Transition) Cuba pilot project finished two weeks ago in Matanza, Cuba, but the yearlong practice and supervision process is just beginning. 10 creative and committed leaders will be artfully accompanying various communities throughout Cuba as they implement early intervention practices to help deal with the impacts of trauma.

Due to ongoing trauma, we armor up to protect ourselves, get trapped in the past, and hold stress in our bodies. The arts help us to engage our senses to make sense of our stories, practice presence by staying in the here and now, and move forward in healthy ways as researchers of our own bodies. With a focus on salutogenesis, an approach to human health that examines the factors contributing to the promotion and maintenance of physical and mental well-being rather than disease and pathology, we are learning to ask ourselves, “Where is health

here? What do I need to do that will nurture well-being here?

While in Matanza, we held stories of struggle and strength, we processed grief and frustrations, we sat in silence and song, painted and played, used our imaginations to travel in time and danced out animal strengths that would help us face our daily challenges. Immersed in the beautiful surroundings of the seminary overlooking the sea and shaded by flamboyan trees, we rediscovered the resources around and within us that we already possess. With the accompaniment of the community, one participant was able to name and take steps towards healing a debilitating fear that had plagued them for years. Another embraced a new perspective on a negative bias held and saw the benefits of a “both and” approach. By stepping into the future with a resource from the past and surrounded by friends now, another saw themselves accomplishing a long held dream within the year. These are just a few of the glimpses of transformation that we witnessed together.

I am so grateful for the support of many folks who are making this pilot project a reality. Yim Locke’s name was drawn from the box of gift givers to receive the stained glass art that I made and Barb Shustek’s name was drawn to receive a collage made from the signatures and collaborative painting made by the participants. God works in communities to transform our mourning into dancing and our struggles into strengths.

Thanks for being a part of mine,

Mylinda