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The Interfaith Community Shelter rarely produces an issue of At Pete’s Place, an annual appeal letter or even a grant application without writing about our volunteers and the invaluable service they provide. Our volunteers are a large component of the Shelter’s spirit, building a community and a feeling of family for our guests.

Today more than ever, that fact resonates in the building and in our hearts. It is difficult to find words for how much we have missed the volunteers over the past couple of months who have felt like family for all these years.

Volunteering requires a certain type of person, and volunteering at the Shelter requires a special type of volunteer. Over 2,000 people each year have felt that call to help our guests. Some volunteers help weekly; some come once a year to cook and serve a dinner during the winter shelter season. What a gift each and every volunteer brings.

If you’re a volunteer who hasn’t been able to be here because you or someone in your household are at risk of catching the coronavirus, know that we miss you and look forward to safer, healthier times when you can return! Please don’t forget us in the meantime – though you can’t serve in person now, your prayers and positive thoughts will also serve our mission, and we appreciate them.

If you are a volunteer who has recently joined our volunteer corps – thank you, thank you, thank you -- and welcome to the Interfaith Community Shelter family!

If you have a story you’d like to share about volunteering at the Shelter or about a volunteer, please email community@interfaithsheltersf.org. Future issues of At Pete’s Place will include your stories as we feature volunteers at the Shelter.


NEXT PROJECT OF MEET OUR MATCH COMPLETED!


Last year, Pete’s Place embarked on a capital campaign, Meet Our Match, to fund a complete kitchen and luggage room renovation, new signage, an outdoor awning to protect guests from the elements, and many smaller upgrades to the interior and exterior of the building. The Santa Fe community and many generous donors stepped forward to make this happen for our guests, the staff and volunteers at the Shelter.

The Rotary Club of Santa Fe funded the bulk of our latest addition, our new permanent awning. The awning was completed at the end of April, and we couldn’t be more pleased! It provides shade in the summer, warmth with the outdoor heaters in the winter, and protection from precipitation all year long.

With a project as extensive as this, there are many people to thank – including our guests, the staff and volunteers who have been so patient when the renovations, at times, made for some inconveniences and extra work. Special thanks to Vahid Mojarrab, WAMO Studio Architects; John DiJanni Custom Homes, general contractor;  and our Space Planning committee members: Joe Jordan-Berenis, Tony Blankenship, Bev Kellam, Len Rand and Linda Rundell.
 

UPDATES: KEEPING EVERYONE SAFE DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

The Interfaith Community Shelter has been working closely with the City of Santa Fe during the COVID crisis. The agreed-upon plan in place helps our guests maintain social distancing, both inside the shelter and in the alternate locations for temporary housing, including the Greentree Inn and the dormitories on the former College of Santa Fe campus.

In the interest of public health, the Shelter has temporarily suspended the Women’s Summer Safe Haven. Instead, we are housing a limited number of both men and women in our building at Pete’s Place, with other guests at the motel or dormitories. We have placed 40 of our guests at the Greentree Inn, sent 24 people to the campus dormitories and have another 20-30 every night in our building. Keeping the numbers low in our building allows us more space to spread people out to maintain social distancing.

In an attempt to monitor our guests for illness and provide better access to testing if they present with symptoms, Shelter staff take the temperature of all guests, staff and volunteers who come to the Shelter and ask guests about any new symptoms they might be experiencing. To date, we have sent 15 guests and 3 employees for COVID-19 testing; all of the tests have come back negative.

For those donors who have made specific donations to the Women’s Summer Safe Haven, rest assured that those donations will remain restricted for the Women’s Shelter, unless we hear differently directly from you.
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