Tag Archives: NC homeless conf

I attended North Carolina’s homeless conference last month, but my carpool left before the awards luncheon, so until I saw it in an NC DHHS newsletter this week, I didn’t know that Greensboro’s Westover Church had received the Outstanding Congregation Award.

[The award was] created in recognition that congregations and communities of faith always have been and continue to be instrumental in community efforts to improve the lives of poor and struggling people, particularly in serving homeless people. Westover Church has formed a network of more than 3,000 volunteers who participate on various projects, including efforts to strengthen homeless programs.

I asked Wes Ward, Westover’s Director of Local Ministries, for details about the church’s ministry to the poor and homeless in Greensboro, and he gave me the following information:

1.) Westover’s substandard housing team has partnered with Habitat for Humanity’s Home Repair Division here in Greensboro. They have committed to repair 36 homes over the next three years. The homeowners are in danger of losing their homes through city or county condemnation because the homes have fallen into disrepair. Many of the homeowners are either disabled or financially unable to pay for the repairs. Westover considers this ministry to be homeless prevention. They have work teams that serve almost every Saturday on this initiative. Their financial commitment is $2,000 for each home repair project.

2.) Westover works with case workers from Greensboro Urban Ministry, The Salvation Army of Greensboro, the Guilford County Department of Public Health’s Baby Love Program, the Guilford County Department of Social Services, and Triad Health Project. Westovers collects a monthly offering called “the People Helping People Fund,” which is used to support Westover’s substandard housing program in addition to helping case workers from the above agencies prevent their clients from being homeless. Also, Westover financially supports Hunter Elementary’s homeless fund for families and children who are experiencing homelessness.

3.) For more than seven years, Westover has provided and served monthly meals at Grace Community Church’s Wednesday Community Dinner. The majority of the guests at the dinner are homeless. [Westover has actually been providing the food and volunteers for the dinner twice a month for the past 3-4 years, at least.]

4.) Recently, Westover has served at NightWatch. They hope to provide more people to serve at NightWatch in the future. [We look forward to that! ]

5.) Westover is in the process of building a poverty team. A component of that team is to look at the issue of homelessness to see how Westover can do more to reach out on this issue.

6.) Wes is a member of the Guilford County Task Force to End Homelessness, and recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend a conference on ending chronic homelessness. Westover hopes to launch several new initiatives related to this issue once the Task Force’s Ten Year Plan is announced to the public.

7.) Westover hosted a town hall meeting (in its theater) related to the 10 year plan to end chronic homelessness in Guilford County

8.) Westover is a member of the Homeless Prevention Coalition of Guilford County.

9.) Westover partners with the Barnabas Network to provide furniture to individuals who are currently in homes. Westover’s members regularly donate furniture that is picked up by Barnabas staff and taken to the Barnabas warehouse. Then it’s delivered to or picked up by individuals and families in need.

10.) For several years, Westover participated in the Guilford Interfaith Housing Network, which provides housing for homeless families.

11.) Westover was also involved with the former Amends Ministry, which operated a housing program for ex-offenders, and was founded by Westover member Dewey Massey, who recently passed away.

Westover has a history of ministry to the poor and homeless in Greensboro, and they continue that commitment today.

Westover is part of my own story about homeless ministry:

When my children were young, I was involved in ministry to children and families in a public housing community through our church (Lawndale Baptist at that time, where I grew up), and I tutored children from another public housing community through my children’s school. But then, about 7-8 years ago, I volunteered with a class from Westover at a Community Dinner to the homeless at Grace, and it was life-changing for me.

I started attending the dinners frequently and then started attending the church. I joined Grace and got involved in homeless and outreach ministries, eventually becoming an intern, then a deacon and case manager. So it was through a Westover ministry that God called me to serve the homeless in Greensboro. Westover has a very special place in my heart, because it’s a part of my own journey to the street with Jesus.