With generous support from our donors, Open Your Heart provided Churches United with funding to purchase new beds for shelter guests. Churches United addresses hunger and homelessness in the Fargo-Moorhead area by operating two emergency shelters, two food pantries, and a permanent supportive housing apartment complex. Their largest shelter, Micah’s Mission, is the only shelter in the Fargo-Moorhead community that can house families, which allows men to stay with their children while they are experiencing homelessness. Their second shelter, the Dorothy Day House, is an all-male shelter with 16 beds and is the only shelter in the FM area that can house registered sex offenders. Guests at both shelters receive case management, two hot meals a day, access to a shelter nurse, and a safe bed. Churches United also operates two food pantries: the Dorothy Day Food Pantry in Moorhead and the Dorothy Day Food Pantry in West Fargo. In 2020, between the two pantries, they distributed over 1.6 million pounds of food to over 19,000 individuals. In 2018, to address housing insecurity, they built a permanent supportive housing apartment for low income individuals. This building, the Bright Sky Apartments, provides wrap-around care to the residents, including a full-time nurse, rental assistance, case management, property management, and referral services. Based on the success of this apartment, they are starting construction on another permanent supportive housing unit for seniors (55+ and older) called Silver Linings. They will break ground on this later in 2021 and will move residents in in 2022.
