JANUARY 2016 E-NEWSLETTER

Greetings from Joseph's House!

Friends,

2016 is upon us and boy is it off to a quick start! We celebrated our anniversary on January 21st, starting our third year here on Atlantic Avenue, and over the weekend of January 22-24, we made it through the first snow storm of the season.

Pictured below are volunteers and guests just before we cut the anniversary cake. More than 80 guests and 5 volunteers shared a beautiful anniversary cake and reminisced about the first night here when we opened during a huge snow storm. We are honored to have shared the past two years with you and look forward to many more.

The first snow storm shut down roads in Camden and closed places where our guests would otherwise gather on the weekends. But Joseph's House staff reported to work and we provided shelter and meals to all who came to our door. We also worked closely with the City of Camden on emergency daytime shelter. Things came together quickly but we were able to provide the care that was needed. It's times like these that really highlight the need for our ministry.

Since 2015 has closed, I thought I'd share some numbers with you. Of course these numbers don't tell you anything about the spirit in our shelter or the warmth in the hearts of our volunteers and guests, but they do provide a sense of the activity here each and every night of the year.

In 2015, Joseph's House:

welcomed 1,795 individual guests
provided 29,260 shelter nights
hosted hundreds of volunteers who logged 4,500 hours of service
served 58,920 meals
made over 1,400 referrals for social services

Thank you for making a difference in the lives of our guests. You are a blessing to us all!

Gratefully,

John

Our mailing address is:
Joseph's House of Camden
555 Atlantic Avenue
Camden, NJ 08104