

The seeds for Bethlehem Homeless Sheltering, Inc. were sown in January of 2009 when the social worker and deacon of Bethlehem’s Trinity Episcopal Soup Kitchen found that many of the people they were serving were forced to sleep outside in sub-freezing weather due to a lack of space in area shelters. Fellow Episcopal churches St. Andrew’s Church and Cathedral Church of the Nativity were contacted and agreed to open their doors to the homeless for overnight shelter during the very harsh weather. They were soon joined by five more churches of various faith traditions as well as the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV) which granted permission to use one of its buildings on nights when no churches were available. Completely staffed by volunteers, these groups housed approximately 75 men and women from January through March and successfully fulfilled their mission-preventing the homeless from freezing to death during the coldest months of the year.