Homelessness Engagement Month
Every month is homelessness engagement month here at FirstPres. 10 Years ago we began making breakfast every Sunday morning for whoever needed a meal. That led to providing showers in our parking lot, then emergency winter shelter, which led to providing year-round shelter, then a safe-parking program, tiny home transitional housing, an additional site of shelter and services in South Hayward, then daytime resource centers, then an Everyone Deserves Cafe, and then . . .
Things escalated, and we can’t imagine our work any other way.
What we have learned here, is that if you start working and praying for “solutions” to problems most plaguing your community, there’s a good chance you’ll hear God whisper (or shout) back, “It’s you!”
We now operate the only low-barrier, emergency, walk-in shelters in Hayward and unincorporated Alameda County. The responsibility we’re carrying for our community is great. We can’t do it alone.
Here we’re trying, imperfectly, but trying, to be part of the solution. We’ve learned a lot along this way, primarily that we cannot do this work alone. Homelessness is the result of a fundamental loss of community. And therefore we believe, restoration is possible, when the whole community responds.
So join us. Check out the opportunities for engagement below, and check back as more are coming soon. Let’s make this “engagement month” an opportunity for our neighbors on the homelessness journey to know, they’re not in this alone.
In gratitude,
PARTICIPATE
Spoken Word Performance
Sunday, Nov. 8, 10 AM
By Victor Mavedzenge, Associate Outreach Director (and artist)
More info coming soon…
Shelter Storytelling Circle
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 4-6 PM
Join shelter guests for a workshop on storytelling. Come to write and hone or own, or just to listen.
More info coming soon…
Sunday Worship Series: Solutions to Homelessness
Viewing Systems & Solutions through Scripture
Sundays, 10 AM, Oct. 18 - Nov. 22
Homelessness is not new. What if the “solutions” we seek are closer than we imagine them to be? Each week we’ll grapple with the realities of homelessness here and now, and examine various available “solutions” through the lens of scripture and our shared experience as the only emergency, low-barrier, walk-in shelter provider in Hayward and unincorporated Alameda County.
Worship at FirstPres is led in English, simultaneously translated in Spanish. All people, regardless of religious background, are welcome. To learn more, go here.
CREATE
“Welcome Home” Community Art Contest
Submissions Due Dec. 1
Calling all artists! (And that means everyone!) All are invited to create a piece of art that includes the words “Welcome Home.” These pieces will be displayed in the FirstPres Shelter, to encourage our neighbors currently experiencing homelessness while they navigate the (long) journey towards housing. When a shelter guest receives a housing match, they’ll choose a piece to take with them, to “welcome” them home.
Did you know? On average, it takes 6 - 9 months for people experiencing homelessness to find housing in Alameda County.
Did you know? As the only low-barrier, emergency, walk-in shelters in Hayward and unincorporated Alameda County, it typically takes our shelter guests 12+ months to find housing. Some of our guests have waited for years. Why? Primarily because there is not enough available housing, and not enough suitable housing for the specific needs of some of our guests.
Did you know? Everyone’s homelessness journey is unique, but all of them are hard. The common thread? We hear from all our neighbors experiencing homelessness that they wish the community was more kind.
Why Art? Yes, our shelters need money and donations, always. But here we know, beauty and art are essential for human flourishing, too.
Other Information:
Submissions will not be returned. They’ll remain in the shelter, until a guest chooses to take them home.
All submissions should be able to hang on a wall, and be sized less than 3 ft. x 3 ft.
Judges will include current shelter guests, others to be announced…
Winners will be announced Dec. 16, and displayed digitally during previews at the Chabot Theater.
Awards will include gift cards to the Chabot Theater and Pampas Cafe, and rewards in heaven*.
(*We can’t actually guarantee this, but we’re hopeful?)
All submissions require completion of this Form.
DONATE
Sustain the Shelter!
FirstPres operates the only low-barrier, emergency, walk-in shelters in Hayward (South Hayward Parish, 25-beds), and unincorporated Alameda County (main Castro Valley site, 50-beds). That means there are 75 emergency shelter beds available, for 729 unhoused individuals (counted in these areas in the 2026 Point-in-Time Count). The need is great, and the resources are not. The best way to ensure this vital resource remains in our community, is to donate.
Santa’s Shelter Helpers
To begin Dec. 1
Every year we work to ensure every shelter guest has a package under the tree on Christmas morning. To do that, we ask for specific sizes of shoes and coats for each guest. If you’d like to help, please sign up here so we can send you size/color requests! More Santas are always needed!
Stock the Shelter Team Challenge!
Register by Nov. 1; Donations due Dec. 1
Do you have a “team,” club, workplace, friend-group, etc., who enjoys friendly competition as much as we do? Sign up here to “compete” in the “Stock the Shelter Challenge!” The team who turns in the most donated items from the list below by Dec. 1, wins!
Underwear (Adult Sizes, new only!)
Socks (new only!)
Towels (new or gently used accepted!)
Be sure to label your donations with your team name when dropping off! Winning team announced Dec. 16.
Stock the Shelter!
Help stock the shelter for our coldest months! Regularly needed items can be found on our Amazon Wish List. Comparable items purchased elsewhere always accepted.