I had never been homeless before and am not now but 4 months ago, at Christmas time my husband and I found ourselves on the streets for a minute. After alot of begging, and pleading and a newspaper article making Crisi Ministries look bad, they took us in. They seperated us, even though we had a marraige license with us. Would not even allow us to stand next to each other on the property. They Yelled and belittled us the entire time. In the family center, they treated us badly. We were always under the threat of being kicked out into the cold. I was made to throw away any and all belongings that did not fit into my 2x3 locker. And what I did have left was picked threw and the staff took things. I just think that if they are going to use the word Ministry it should be one. We were there 3 weeks in total and were put off every day when we asked to be seen in the clinic,(as I was Pregnant), We were never allowed to see any counselor. They said it was because we had to go through intake first, but for 2 weeks we couldnt go through it because the lady was off, or some other reason. I think it is ridiculous that they have what they refer to as a ""family center"" when the only thing that consitutes ""family"" to them are children, BORN children. I dont know where they would put a man if he were to come with a ""family"" because there is no seperate part. The only good thing (besides having shelter) was the volunteers who would come to cook for us. They are absolutely unaware though that when they are finished blessing us with supper, we are all yelled at and scared to death of being kicked out for some small infraction. There arent rules at Crisis ministries that are hard to follow, there are just power hungry people enforcing them. Compassionate people, in othe words, dont say ""alright, YOURE outta here"" to a brand new person who didnt know that you are supposed to change in the bathroom stall and not the all women locker room! I've seen 30 grown women walking around whispering, trying to ""behave"" as not to get the workers mad, like a kinergarten class who have just been reprimanded. Oh but let one of the ""Donors"" come in....The workers are so friendly and caring. Crisis Ministries needs to learn what it is to have true compassion. To learn that not everyone in a shelter is a user, or your stereotypical homeless person, or a user, or any kind of anything. They are all individual people with different needs and circumstances. If they would just care,(which is a part of ""ministering"") they would be of greater importance to the world. My husband and I are not homeless or jobless anymore, we are back on track I remember talking to 3 different workers while there and telling them what kind of work my husband does and how we were going to get back on our feet and each time I was met with negativity and it just hurt. It could have kept me down if I had listened. But Thank God I had a true minister in my heart...Jesus... and only listened to Him.
Pros: Better than the streets
Cons: Treated worse and with less respect than a convict.
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