Winter Sanctuary 2014

The Winter Santuary Program

For the past couple of years, as the homeless shelters fill up, there has been a city-wide effort to provide shelter, beds, and meals to the nearly 1,000 homeless men and women during the long winter nights here in Sacramento, CA.  Churches throughout the city have opened their doors to feed and provide a warm place to sleep from November - March for individuals who do not make it into the shelters.  All the food and shelter is donated and the meals are prepared by volunteers, but there are buses, admin, and security costs needed to keep this program running.  

In answer to the shortage of local funding for the Winter Sanctuary Program, our pastor, Rick Cole of Capital Christian Church, has shed his day-to-day lifestyle to live as a homeless man on the streets, in an effort to raise funds. The Winter Sactuary Program needs $300,000 to keep this program running.   

In just 2 days of launching this program, $11K has already been raised, and I ask that you consider joining me in donating to this amazing cause.  It costs $11.00 a day, per person to be house at one of the local churches. Maybe you can help with a night, two nights, three nights etc.?  Whatever you can donate will be a blessing to this program. Please consider being a part of this worthy endeavor and help make homeless persons and families stay warm during this upcoming winter season. 

Last but not least, I ask that you keep Pastor Rick in prayer for a covering of his heart, mind, soul and safety. May his mission spoken to him by God come to great fruition, and may we be able to help continue to keep our homeless warm this winter.

Thank you for joining us in raising funds for this great cause!

Jenny & Ernie Ruoff

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Program info -

Each winter, cold and wet weather conditions threaten the lives of nearly 1,000 homeless men and women who live on Sacramento-area streets. The Winter Sanctuary Program was founded to meet the needs of these individuals with nowhere to go. Comprised of a network of religious congregations under the leadership of Sacramento Steps Forward, Winter Sanctuary is the only winter shelter option for single, homeless adults. The goal of this privately funded program is to help these individuals, who all too often fall through the cracks.

Program Basics (data from HMIS)

• 133 nights of shelter, hot meals, and simple breakfasts provided (November 19, 2012 to March 31, 2013)
• An average of 89 guests sheltered nightly
• 536 unduplicated guests served
• Average length of stay: 24 days
• Median length of stay: 10 days

Guest Demographics and Subpopulation Characteristics (data from HMIS)

• Gender: The majority of Winter Sanctuary guests are male. Male 63%, Female 37%, less than 1%Transgendered (n=1)
• Age: 70% ofWinter Sanctuary guests are between the ages of 25 and 54. Less than 10% of guests are Transition AgeYouth age 18-24 or Seniors 62 and older, 7% and 5% respectively.