The Housing Initiative Committee was created to serve our wider community of unhoused people. Projects included collaborating with other faith communities to build a Habitat for Humanity House, building a Conestoga Hut and Tiny Home, and providing safe parking for unhoused overnight campers. The final project resulted in creating space for two houses for housing insecure residents in our Parkside homes. Thanks to a supportive and very generous congregation, FCC raised funds in excess of the estimated costs. The HI Committee was recently charged with selecting a local project to receive $10,000 of these excess funds. In keeping with our effort to lift up our unhoused neighbors, invitations for proposals for these funds were sent to three local non-profits. While all three organizations submitted excellent proposals, Nightingale Hosted Shelters was the unanimous winner. NHS is a community of people housed in Conestoga Huts at 34th and Hilyard in south Eugene. The HI funds will fund urgently needed refurbishment of the huts.

The Committee chose NHS for several reasons, including:

• Refurbishing the huts is critically important to serving the NHS population at a sustainable level. Raising money for a primarily maintenance-driven project can be challenging, resulting in increased benefit of the FCC funds.
• NHS is a grass-roots organization with a small budget and an active board who is passionate about its mission. The HI Committee felt our $10,000 donation would have a bigger impact on their work than on larger organizations that have multiple funding sources.
• The HI Committee was impressed that NHS will involve residents to help with the project – and pay them to do the work! The benefits of this work relationship include building self-confidence and respect, teaching valuable skills, and inspiring a sense of pride in the community.
• NHS is willing to offer opportunities for our members to meet their residents, hear their stories and ask questions.
  

We are delighted to build our partnership with Nightingale. Watch for updates, photos, and other news about the project. Thanks to you, our church family continues to provide ways to address the housing crisis in our community.

Gratefully,
FCC Housing Initiative Committee