Gateway

GATEWAY GUIDELINES

Thank you for volunteering for this special VCF outreach ministry to the men at the Gateway! The Gateway is not just a homeless shelter, but a recovery center for men dealing with drug/alcohol addictions.

The Gateway suggests an entree for us each month, which we announce in our newsletter. Two people/families coordinate together to provide the entree to keep costs down for any one person/family. Additionally, two other people/families will provide one vegetable each, another person/family will provide bread, and another person/family a dessert of their choice. Please remember to prepare enough food for 15+ adult men. Since they rarely have anyone serve them dinner on Saturdays they depend on leftovers for the weekends, so it's far better for us to provide them with too much food than not enough!

There is no real time for cooking on site, so entrees and other foods that need to be cooked must be prepared ahead of time. Canned vegetables and precooked dinner rolls can be heated on site. All precooked food can be kept warm on the stove or in the ovens.

Dinner is served at 6:30pm, so servers/preparers should plan on arriving shortly after 6pm (around 6:10pm. There is an AA/NA meeting at the Gateway for residents of the Gateway as well as others in the community on Friday evenings that doesn't end until 6pm. Out of respect for their privacy, the Gateway asks us not to arrive and enter the facility until after that meeting ends.) The Gateway is located at 300 12th Street, on the corner of 12th and Church Streets across from the City Armory. You can park on the Church street side or in the alley beside the Gateway off of Church Street.

Our Gateway team members should do the actual serving of the food to be sure it is properly rationed and all are fed.

Gateway residents are responsible to set our plates, napkins, utensils, and drinks before dinner and are responsible for all clean up after dinner.

We encourage our Gateway team members to be friendly, mingle, introduce yourselves, and talk with and encourage the Gateway residents as the Lord leads. Invite them to church and let them know a ride will be provided. You're also welcome and encouraged to dine with the residents.

Before leaving, if there are any pots/pans there that belong to church members, be sure to collect them and take them home and bring them to church on Sunday.