A Note from the Executive Director

The Healing Power of Community

Community.

People talk about community a lot – about the importance of Community. Connection. Belonging.

Here at ICS, Community is one of our core values and reflected in all our programs.  We strive to build relationships and be a place where people can become connected and involved, working together to rekindle hope, maintain dignity and create a community of belonging.  Hope. Dignity. Community.

Community comes to life in many ways around ICS:

• For the Hygiene Center guests who have no stable home, ICS is their community. By providing a safe and welcoming environment, they have a place where they feel like they belong. We meet them where they are and support them in whatever way feel they need and they support one another the way that families do.
• For the shelter residents struggling to overcome addiction to drugs & alcohol, the ICS Recovery Shelter provides a safe and sober community of people that support one another and holds one another accountable, while working on their recovery and building a new life for themselves.
• Through all of our amazing community of volunteers who collect, sort, pack & distribute food and support the SLU Food Bank at ICS, shoppers have access to healthy nutritious food to fill their pantries and feed their families.
• In partnership with a large community of neighbors, partners, groups of volunteers and local grocery stores, we work together to provide over 33,000 meals a year to our neighbors experiencing hunger and those needing a hot nutritious meal and friendly conversation.

We believe in this commitment to Community and work for it every day to help folks imagine a different life for themselves without hunger or homelessness.

But recently, when Dave became sick and unexpectedly passed away, we experienced Community in a whole new way.

The first few days when Dave was absent from the Hygiene Center, we were extremely short-handed and didn’t know how we were going to manage.  We also couldn’t get the washing machine to work correctly.  A Hygiene Center guest volunteered to sit in the laundry room to take care of all the laundry – for everyone.  He ended up wringing all the laundry out— by hand, all day.

Another guest, who used to have the hardest time packing up and leaving on time when the Center closed, took it upon himself to become the timekeeper each day.  He started waking people up, giving regular warnings and then helped guests pack up and leave on time.

When the shower clogged, causing water to spill all over, one of our long-time guests shooed the staff out of the bathroom.  He unclogged the shower and then cleaned up all the water that had flooded the bathroom and gym floor.

A former resident of our Recovery Shelter volunteered to come every day to staff the front door, greet guests and walked around to make sure people signed in.  Still other guests set up tables and the hand washing station for lunch and helped staff with whatever was needed.  Current shelter residents mopped the floors and cleaned the bathroom every day.

This continued for over a month.

We work every day to create a safe welcoming community for the people we serve at ICS. A place where they are seen and known. A place where they feel welcome and safe while receiving the basic human services they need to survive.  But at this challenging time filled with uncertainty and grief, the guests and residents stepped up for us and wrapped us in community.  The entire ICS Hygiene Center & Recovery Shelter community came together and made sure that we could still operate, despite Dave’s absence.  It was healing, beautiful, moving and is something that taught me even more about the healing power of Community.  I will be forever grateful for this community.

– Shawna McMahon, Executive Director

Music & Lyrics by Naomi Wachira

Our programs are made possible by the generous support from our partners...