Emergency shelter moving to Ballard

The old Calvary Lutheran Church on 23rd Ave. and 70th St., which is currently for sale, will soon become home to a nighttime SHARE shelter for as many as 20 homeless men. “They came to us a week or so ago,” said Our Redeemer’s Pastor Steve Grumm, whose church merged with Calvary Lutheran last year. SHARE’s one-year arrangement with the Church of the Nazarene in West Seattle is expiring on March 1st, and the group was looking for a new home for another one-year run. “(They’re) a responsible and accountable group,” Grumm said, pointing out that SHARE pre-screens all the members, many of them have jobs and the shelters are only open at night. Once the doors close, members aren’t allowed to leave until the next morning. “They’re places where people have hit some crisis in their life,” he said.

Grumm said he spoke to other churches that also host SHARE shelters, such as St. John’s Lutheran on Phinney Ridge, and the reviews have been very positive. Flyers have been distributed to neighbors in the area, and all are invited to a meeting at Calvary Lutheran on February 26th at 7 p.m. The group is expected to start moving in on February 28th. If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact Our Redeemer’s Church at 783-7900 or SHARE/WHEEL at 448-7889. (Thanks Ivan for letting us know about the flyer.)