Faith communities working together to help families move from
homelessness to self-sufficiency
Trinity Lutheran Church and Fort Collins Friends Meeting
Please join us in this vital ministry--all are welcomed! There are many opportunities to serve during host week.
Directions for signing up are included on the first page that pops up. You do not need to create a log in. A reminder email will be sent three days prior to your work shift. You may also sign up by contacting Trinity’s FFH coordinators, Nadine Hunt.
homelessness to self-sufficiency
Trinity Lutheran Church and Fort Collins Friends Meeting
Please join us in this vital ministry--all are welcomed! There are many opportunities to serve during host week.
Directions for signing up are included on the first page that pops up. You do not need to create a log in. A reminder email will be sent three days prior to your work shift. You may also sign up by contacting Trinity’s FFH coordinators, Nadine Hunt.
Faith Family Hospitality (FFH) is an interfaith program in northern Larimer County that provides temporary overnight lodging, fellowship, and an evening meal and breakfast for families with children facing homelessness. Participating faith communities open their houses of worship on a rotating basis to host up to four families for one week several times a year. Many host congregations partner with a support congregation.
Faith Family Hospitality at Trinity Lutheran Church
At Trinity as well as the other host congregations, volunteers make this program possible! We welcome your help and ideas for improvement. Volunteers, please remember to sign in at the beginning of your shift and to sign out at the end. The FFH logbook is located in the kitchen. Also, please indicate if you brought food or goods. A record of volunteer hours is important for compiling annual reports and applying for grants and other funding. This information also shows the dedication and commitment of FFH volunteers.
Volunteer Job Descriptions
Set-Up Crew (4-6 needed first Sunday of host week) 2:30-4:45 p.m. Volunteers unload, set up and make beds with mattress pads, sheets, blankets/comforters, and pillows/cases, and arrange rooms with other items identified for guest use (chairs, small tables, lamps, night lights, Kleenex).
Meal Prep/Serve (2 needed Sunday-Saturday) 5:00 p.m. to after dinner and cleanup. Food preparers make dinner, set tables, set up buffet line, serve dinner at 5:30, and clean up (with guests) after the meal. Preparers are invited to join Evening Hosts in eating dinner and socializing with guests.
Evening Hosts (2 needed Sunday-Saturday) 5:00-8:30 p.m. Unlock guest rooms, greet guests, and offer help if needed. Share fellowship time with families at dinner and in evening chatting with guests, reading to or playing a game with children, helping with homework, or perhaps shooting hoops! Some families may retire to their rooms early. This is not a reflection on you but of their day. Be sure to bring a book or activity to work on while you wait for overnight hosts to arrive (at 8:30). Before leaving, transfer key to overnight hosts and impart any pertinent information (e.g., late arrivals).
Overnight Hosts (2 needed Sunday-Saturday) 7:30 p.m.-7:30 a.m.
• Arrive at 7:30 pm. Bring your own sheets, pillow & comforter or sleeping bag and alarm clock. Blow up mattresses are available in host rooms along with one pull out couch. Quiet time begins at 8:30 pm.
• Sign volunteer time sheet in FFH notebook (kitchen), review guest profiles.
• FFH coordinator will show you the Overnight Host room. Get church key and FFH phone from FFH coordinator and any other instructions. Take the FFH binder with family profiles to your host room (one overnight host with the FFH phone will be lead on this). It has phone numbers for all the families staying with us in case you would need to contact them during the night via phone.
• Introduce yourself to any guests who are still in the common area and awake.
• Assist with needs, such as another blanket or towel.
• 9:00 pm lock the south door. All exterior doors are checked and locked by a Trinity member. If there is a late arrival after this time, make sure door is locked after they arrive.
• Emergency numbers are posted in host rooms, hallway next to phone (outside nursery) and in kitchen.
• If there would be an emergency during the night, please contact one of the FFH coordinators immediately.**
• At 6:00 am, knock on the door of guests wanting a wake up call.
• Please have coffee ready by 6:15 am. Coffee pot, coffee, and filters are on kitchen counter. . Hot water is always available at the coffee bar.
• Place breakfast items for breakfast-to-go bags on buffet table. The FFH coordinator will show you what food is available.
• Families must leave by 7:00 am. If you have any problems with this, please contact a coordinator.
• Clean up. Please clear buffet table and put food away - non-perishables in FFH cabinet (white cabinet next to fridge in Parkside Room) and perishables in fridge in kitchen.
• Clean out coffee pot and leave on counter, tidy kitchen area, and wipe down counters.
• Leave notes on kitchen counter for coordinators of anything we might need to know, i.e., need milk, family mentions they will be late to dinner, etc. A text message or phone call to a coordinator would be nice also.
• Before leaving, please check that all guest room doors are locked (inside and outside door, turn off lights, fans/heaters – check to see that all guests have left the East wing). Place church key and FFH phone in FFH kiosk (next to church mouse kiosk). Put FFH binder back on kitchen counter. Be sure the south door is locked and shut. Be sure to write down the time you leave on volunteer sheet in binder. Thank you!
Note: Saturday night hosts—please place laundry bags (one per guest) outside guest rooms (bags are in storage room 7A on table) and remind guests to place wet towels in one bag and bedding in others. Pillows stay in rooms. Also remind guests to place beds/floor mats and personal belongings in South hallway for loading on to FFH trailer Sunday morning.
** If an emergency such as a trip to the ER is needed during the night, and the family has a car, they can drive themselves. If they are a single parent, they must take their children with them, the children cannot stay at Trinity unattended. If the family does not have a vehicle, one of the overnight hosts will need to drive them to the ER along with their children if they are a single parent. You can leave them at the hospital. If they need a ride back to church, we can go back and pick them up. Contact a Trinity coordinator immediately.
Tear-Down Crew (4-6 needed last Sunday of host week) 6:30-7:45 a.m. Load cots and guests’ personal belongings into FFH trailer for delivery to next host site. Return guest rooms to classrooms, wipe down and move end tables, chairs, lamps and small items to storage, and put away games and toys in labeled storage bins, This is a fast-paced job to have all in readiness before the 8:00 am church service.
Delivery Driver (1 needed last Sunday of host week) Time to be arranged. Requires someone with vehicle or pick-up truck with trailer hitch to transport trailer to the next host church, unhitch trailer, and transfer trailer key and track phone to coordinator at next host site (information to be provided).
Laundry Crew (2 needed last Sunday of host week) 7:30 a.m. Pick up laundry bags that have been set outside guest room doors. Within the week, please wash laundry and return to church and store in labeled plastic bins in storage room 7A in education wing.
Back-Up Volunteers. (2 needed during week) If a scheduled volunteer becomes unavailable due to illness or emergency, the backup volunteer takes over the unfilled volunteer position (overnight hosts excluded).
Meal Prep/Serve (2 needed Sunday-Saturday) 5:00 p.m. to after dinner and cleanup. Food preparers make dinner, set tables, set up buffet line, serve dinner at 5:30, and clean up (with guests) after the meal. Preparers are invited to join Evening Hosts in eating dinner and socializing with guests.
Evening Hosts (2 needed Sunday-Saturday) 5:00-8:30 p.m. Unlock guest rooms, greet guests, and offer help if needed. Share fellowship time with families at dinner and in evening chatting with guests, reading to or playing a game with children, helping with homework, or perhaps shooting hoops! Some families may retire to their rooms early. This is not a reflection on you but of their day. Be sure to bring a book or activity to work on while you wait for overnight hosts to arrive (at 8:30). Before leaving, transfer key to overnight hosts and impart any pertinent information (e.g., late arrivals).
Overnight Hosts (2 needed Sunday-Saturday) 7:30 p.m.-7:30 a.m.
• Arrive at 7:30 pm. Bring your own sheets, pillow & comforter or sleeping bag and alarm clock. Blow up mattresses are available in host rooms along with one pull out couch. Quiet time begins at 8:30 pm.
• Sign volunteer time sheet in FFH notebook (kitchen), review guest profiles.
• FFH coordinator will show you the Overnight Host room. Get church key and FFH phone from FFH coordinator and any other instructions. Take the FFH binder with family profiles to your host room (one overnight host with the FFH phone will be lead on this). It has phone numbers for all the families staying with us in case you would need to contact them during the night via phone.
• Introduce yourself to any guests who are still in the common area and awake.
• Assist with needs, such as another blanket or towel.
• 9:00 pm lock the south door. All exterior doors are checked and locked by a Trinity member. If there is a late arrival after this time, make sure door is locked after they arrive.
• Emergency numbers are posted in host rooms, hallway next to phone (outside nursery) and in kitchen.
• If there would be an emergency during the night, please contact one of the FFH coordinators immediately.**
• At 6:00 am, knock on the door of guests wanting a wake up call.
• Please have coffee ready by 6:15 am. Coffee pot, coffee, and filters are on kitchen counter. . Hot water is always available at the coffee bar.
• Place breakfast items for breakfast-to-go bags on buffet table. The FFH coordinator will show you what food is available.
• Families must leave by 7:00 am. If you have any problems with this, please contact a coordinator.
• Clean up. Please clear buffet table and put food away - non-perishables in FFH cabinet (white cabinet next to fridge in Parkside Room) and perishables in fridge in kitchen.
• Clean out coffee pot and leave on counter, tidy kitchen area, and wipe down counters.
• Leave notes on kitchen counter for coordinators of anything we might need to know, i.e., need milk, family mentions they will be late to dinner, etc. A text message or phone call to a coordinator would be nice also.
• Before leaving, please check that all guest room doors are locked (inside and outside door, turn off lights, fans/heaters – check to see that all guests have left the East wing). Place church key and FFH phone in FFH kiosk (next to church mouse kiosk). Put FFH binder back on kitchen counter. Be sure the south door is locked and shut. Be sure to write down the time you leave on volunteer sheet in binder. Thank you!
Note: Saturday night hosts—please place laundry bags (one per guest) outside guest rooms (bags are in storage room 7A on table) and remind guests to place wet towels in one bag and bedding in others. Pillows stay in rooms. Also remind guests to place beds/floor mats and personal belongings in South hallway for loading on to FFH trailer Sunday morning.
** If an emergency such as a trip to the ER is needed during the night, and the family has a car, they can drive themselves. If they are a single parent, they must take their children with them, the children cannot stay at Trinity unattended. If the family does not have a vehicle, one of the overnight hosts will need to drive them to the ER along with their children if they are a single parent. You can leave them at the hospital. If they need a ride back to church, we can go back and pick them up. Contact a Trinity coordinator immediately.
Tear-Down Crew (4-6 needed last Sunday of host week) 6:30-7:45 a.m. Load cots and guests’ personal belongings into FFH trailer for delivery to next host site. Return guest rooms to classrooms, wipe down and move end tables, chairs, lamps and small items to storage, and put away games and toys in labeled storage bins, This is a fast-paced job to have all in readiness before the 8:00 am church service.
Delivery Driver (1 needed last Sunday of host week) Time to be arranged. Requires someone with vehicle or pick-up truck with trailer hitch to transport trailer to the next host church, unhitch trailer, and transfer trailer key and track phone to coordinator at next host site (information to be provided).
Laundry Crew (2 needed last Sunday of host week) 7:30 a.m. Pick up laundry bags that have been set outside guest room doors. Within the week, please wash laundry and return to church and store in labeled plastic bins in storage room 7A in education wing.
Back-Up Volunteers. (2 needed during week) If a scheduled volunteer becomes unavailable due to illness or emergency, the backup volunteer takes over the unfilled volunteer position (overnight hosts excluded).