November 22, 2025 • 15 mins
In this segment, host Phil Tower welcomes Chris Palusky, CEO of Mel Trotter Ministries, and Thelma Ensink, Executive Director of Degagé Ministries, to discuss a groundbreaking new collaboration transforming support for unhoused neighbors in Grand Rapids.
On November 20, a coalition of 11 nonprofit organizations and churches, together with the City of Grand Rapids, celebrated the ribbon-cutting of a brand-new Community Center and Service Center in the Heartside neighborhood.
Led by Mel Trotter and Degagé, this unified effort—known as Partners in Ministry—marks a major milestone in creating a more coordinated, compassionate, and accessible network of care for individuals experiencing homelessness. Located within Westminster Presbyterian Church at 47 Jefferson SE, the center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, offering a welcoming space for both unhoused community members and residents seeking connection.
The center provides a wide range of essential services, including:
Catholic Charities West Michigan, City of Grand Rapids, Cornerstone Church, Crossroads Bible Church, Degagé Ministries, First United Methodist Church, LaGrave Christian Reformed Church, Mel Trotter Ministries, Park Church, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. This episode dives into how the partnership came to life, what it means for the Heartside community, and the importance of cross-organizational collaboration in addressing homelessness with dignity and care.
Matthew 25: 31-46
More about the new Community Center & Service Center
On November 20, a coalition of 11 nonprofit organizations and churches, together with the City of Grand Rapids, celebrated the ribbon-cutting of a brand-new Community Center and Service Center in the Heartside neighborhood.
Led by Mel Trotter and Degagé, this unified effort—known as Partners in Ministry—marks a major milestone in creating a more coordinated, compassionate, and accessible network of care for individuals experiencing homelessness. Located within Westminster Presbyterian Church at 47 Jefferson SE, the center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, offering a welcoming space for both unhoused community members and residents seeking connection.
The center provides a wide range of essential services, including:
- Warming and cooling space
- Restrooms
- Morning coffee, sandwiches, and snacks
- Lunch provided by Catholic Charities West Michigan
- Art and enrichment activities
- Weekly access to the Mel Trotter Mobile Shower Unit
- Two full-time Case Managers/Community Health Workers
- Three full-time Safety & Support Specialists
- Space for partner organizations to offer services throughout the week
Catholic Charities West Michigan, City of Grand Rapids, Cornerstone Church, Crossroads Bible Church, Degagé Ministries, First United Methodist Church, LaGrave Christian Reformed Church, Mel Trotter Ministries, Park Church, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. This episode dives into how the partnership came to life, what it means for the Heartside community, and the importance of cross-organizational collaboration in addressing homelessness with dignity and care.
Matthew 25: 31-46
More about the new Community Center & Service Center
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly program designed to winform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I Mean Studio for this segment with Chris Pulaski. Chris
is CEO of Meltrotter Ministries. Also joining us is Thelma Enzinc.
Executive director of Degaggier Ministries, DEGAJ and Meltrotter. Part of
a number of nonprofits, churches across several denominations, and the
city of Grand Rapids all getting together for something big.
(00:38):
Where's a ribbon cutting just a few days ago on Thursday,
November twentieth for the formal launch of a community center
and service center here in Grand Rapids in the heart
Sided neighborhood, serving the homeless population in our great city.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
There has been so much groundwork to get to this point.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
First of all, Chris to my right, if you're keeping
score at home, Filma is to my far right.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thank you both for being in studio. Appreciate it, Thank you,
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This is something Chris, before we turned on the microphones,
you said has a really interesting story.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
It started with a phone call, is that right.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
It did it for myself. It was about six months ago,
maybe nine months ago. Somebody came to me and said
that there's a church that wants to maybe repurpose a
building at some points. Would you be interested in having
like a day center out of that church? And I've
been here a year, so I just hit my one
year anniversary and I was trying to congratulations, thank you,
I try to figure out which way was up, and
(01:42):
I had I had heard, you know, there was a
need for additional warming centers during the winter time. But
I'd also melt Theilma down the street who was doing
a warming center. We were doing a warming center, and
I thought, you know, I don't really want to do
this alone if I don't have to. And so I said,
if Film was doing it, I'd be interested in, you know,
like putting in some kind of application or a program together.
(02:05):
And the guy said, actually, Film has been working on
that for a little while. I say, well, that would
be great to be part of that. I would love
to do that.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
All right.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So a little bit of the backstory here. This is
you guys working on a need something you knew had
to happen. Filma pick it up from there if you will.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
So, we have a real need in a community for
a community center that offers emergency services right, a warm
place for people to be a meal, especially for unsheltered neighbors.
And Dejay and Meltrotter have had day centers community centers
for a number of years, but with the increased needs
that we've seen over the last few years, Digjay in particular,
(02:43):
have run out of room. We just have so many
single women seeking shelter, and so we were no longer
able to welcome the community into our community center, and
so we started talking with other organizations. But churches, do
you have space? Is there a place where we can
put a community center together? And what if we created
some partnerships between dej, Meltrotter, some of the local churches
(03:06):
the city of Grand Rapids and have a more permanent
space where our neighbors can come in and get those
emergency services met. But then also when people need resources,
they're all over the place. They have to try to
catch the bus to go meet and get medical health care,
get mental health care, be able to get access to
vital records. What if it was all located in one space,
(03:29):
and so this idea of a community center and service
center together was born, and all kinds of partners came
to the table, and we found that there were many
churches that were really interested not in just supporting the
work financially, but actually being a direct partner in the
planning and even hosting a community center and service center.
And so that brings us to where we are today
(03:50):
with this iteration at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I want to go back to something you both said
which is important for our listeners to know, which is
you've been serving the home for a long time at
Meltrotter at dega Je. What's been happening quietly and maybe
not so quietly in your world is this homeless issue
has become a huge issue. And I want to speak candidly.
This is not just them pointing the finger at those
homeless people. It's your neighbors. It's so many people who've
(04:17):
been squeezed out by high rents, by job cuts.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Homelessness is happening to middle class people. You guys. It's
not just a them thing anymore, Is that fair to say, Chris? Yeah,
it's affecting.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
It's a nationwide epidemic, and so we're seeing these rates
increase year after year after year, and even here in
Grand Rapids, we're seeing the rates increase like we'd never
had before.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, we've seen a point in time count and ground
rapids go from just above nine hundred and twenty twenty
to two hundred and thirty eight this past January. And
we know that's probably not capturing everyone that's experiencing homeless.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That's a thirty percent increase it is. That's really striking.
So you've got quite a group here that you just
referred to earlier film that. You've got Catholic Charities of
West Michigan, the city of Grand Rapids, but a lot
of churches and multiple denominations Cornerstone Church, Crossroads Bible Church,
First United Methodist Church, The Grave Christian Reformed Church, Park Church,
(05:17):
Saint Mark's Episcopal and Westminster Presbyterian Church, which is where
the new community center and service center will be located.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Talk about their role in that if you would, so.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
I'll say the whole consortium. So the idea is for
the church and to be the church. In my mind,
this is how the big C church comes together to
serve and be the hands and feet of Christ serving
some of the most vulnerable. There's a story in the
Bible and it goes about sheep and goats, and maybe
many people have heard it. You know, Christ, somebody asked Christ,
(05:51):
you know, who are the chosen and he said, well,
there's sheep and goats. The sheep, you know, they are
the chosen ones. You know, they came to visit the widow,
or for the foreigner. They took care of the prisoner.
They were the ones who took care of people in need.
There was the goats and they said, well, why are
we chosen? Well, you didn't do those things that the
sheep did. So in this case, we see this as
(06:12):
just an awesome way for the church to be the
church and serve some of the most vulnerable in our
community in a very tangible way.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, so many times we partner so closely with churches.
They come into Maltrotter, they come into Deja and they
Vluntier and they want to be a part of the
solution when it comes to serving our unhoused neighbors. But
we often hear from our churches we're not exactly sure
how to help. And so this community center and service
center gives them such a clear and tangible way. Let's
come in, let's volunteer, let's serve meals there, let's do
(06:42):
activities with our neighbors. And it's a very clear way
for our churches to do it with the support of
Maltrotter and dej who do this work every day.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, and there are people on the ground who are
helping homeless people understand that this will be available to them.
But I'll turn to you, Chris Puluski, in your role
as CEO of mel Trotter. A lot of this is communication.
Communication of people that are transit. You don't always know
where they are. How do you and Thelma then and
(07:13):
all of these other partners in this partners in ministry,
that's what this collaborative group is known as partners in Ministry.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
How do you get the word out that this place
is now open? It's awesome.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
So I'll take a step back and I'll say for
several years now, we've had a mobile shower unit and
we pulled that up in front of churches. Churches would
then supply a meal. Then we started to have service
providers come outs and provide different services. Catherine's Health we
had network when eighty and they would come to these
different churches when we had the shower unit and it
(07:45):
would rotate to a different church every day I think
was five days a week. And we're still doing this
these activities making sure people get a shower and services.
The thing was is how it got out of where
there was going to be at best word of mouth
people who are experiencing homeless.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
They talked to one another. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Also we have it posted nine different places. Also, we
have it on our websites, so they were finding out
before you with this rotational cycle. Now they're going to
have a single place that they can go and receive
services on a daily basis. So we're just excited that
we're going to.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Have a home. Yeah, this is pretty impressive.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
This community center and service center, which is now open,
features a warming and cooling space, restrooms, coffee, sandwiches and
snacks in the morning, lunch from Catholic Charities of West Michigan,
and other activities throughout the day. There'll be art and
things like that. I understand in my well prepared notes
here that Meltrotter Mobile shower Unit will be on Thursdays two.
(08:40):
This is really important to full time case managers and
community health workers to assist with housing and resources, and
then three full time safety and support specialists and space
for other service providers and partners to offer their services.
So this is this is not only a collaboration and name,
this is like right there in the space, a huge
(09:05):
difference maker for those people needing to kind of figure
life out once they're homeless.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, we really getting an opportunity here to put together
some things we've learned over the last few years. Like
Chris said, we have churches like Crossroads Bible Church who said, hey,
every Tuesday, we can host some partners in one space,
and we saw how many people came out, and we
saw how many people were more successful because they had
a one stop shop. And so we said, let's make
sure we have this Monday through Friday, eight to three
(09:35):
all winter long, so that we can be a space
where somebody cannot only come in and get warm and
get those emergency services, but then go and meet with
a case manager, and the case manager can use motivational
interviewing skills to ask someone, you know, we're your barriers
to housing. When have you been successful and being able
to retain employment? What are some of those things that
you need be able to achieve your goals because case
(09:56):
management works when it's client centered, when we support each
person's gifts and their unique journey forward. And so we're
kind of bringing together all the best things they've learned
at deje at Meltrotter as a community when it comes
to serving our on house neighbors.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Chris, I'm going to go back.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's Stelma en Sync, the executive director oft Degaje Ministries.
Chris Puluski with a CEO of mel Trotter Ministries. I'm
going to go back to what you said. That scripture
on the Goats and the Sheep really about Chraze in
the Bible, saying what you did at least.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Of them is what you did to me.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
The whole importance of that, and as you said, not
only feeding people, visiting them in prison, reaching them, connecting
them at the lowest point in their lives. There are
people listening Thelma and Chris, who I hope were at
least thinking about what you said and thinking, Okay, what
(10:51):
can I do?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
What is my role in this?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Because I know you're going to need resources beyond what
some of these community organizations can offer.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Maybe people in their own churches. I'll get the word out.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Let's talk about activating and getting engaged with our listeners.
I'll start with you first, Chris, what do you want
our listeners to know in terms of how they can
engage with this new community center and service center.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
So my request, my hope, my prayer is to do something,
and this is a great opportunity to do that. So
people feel overwhelmed sometimes, be it with the economy, be
it with homelessness, whatever the issue is, this is something
where people can actually do something. So I would ask
people to pray. Please, pray for what's going on down there,
Pray for our guests, Pray for the people that are
(11:36):
working down there, Pray for our partners. So I ask
people to pray. Second of all, volunteers donate. Donate to
the center, donate to either of our organizations. There's a
lot of other great organizations.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Donate.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
But my heart, my desire is that people get involved
and this is something they can actually do, something that's
so so tangible.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, Thelma, what do you want your supporters, your listeners
on the other end of the radio to know about
how they can support this new really powerful ministry, this collaboration,
this partners in ministry collaboration.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
So currently the volunteer sign up is hosted on Maltratter's website,
So if you just go to Maltratter's website, you can
sign up there to volunteer. When people come in too volunteer,
we equip them and support them. So you don't have
to know a lot. You just have to be willing
to step into the space and be vulnerable and just
build a relationship with with somebody new. And so we
(12:30):
will provide them with all of the training that they
need to successful in the space. And very soon we'll
also be sharing an Amazon wish list of just some
really basic supplies that we need in the space every day.
We need socks, we need men and women's underwear, we
need some basic hygiene supplies, just some things to support
our neighbor's needs as they come into the space.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I want to go back to what Chris said, put
yourself out there and really a lot of people it's
easy to write a check and that's helpful to meltrotter
dot org. They can interface with you there on your
website in terms of getting involved, maybe saying I want
to be active.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Beyond that, what else should they know? Chris, it's just
a great opportunity.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
I mean, this is the time of year where people,
I think, take stock. I mean we're coming up on Thanksgiving,
coming up near Christmas. I think this is the time
where people, you know, think about what's important and look
for opportunities, and people feel overwhelmed. And this is just
a great way to be part of this movement that's
going on in Grand Rapids.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Chris Puluski, CEO of mel Trotter Ministries.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You also have the City of Grand Rapids providing some
funding for this, Cornerstone Church, Crossrowoods Bible Church, First United Methodists,
Lagrave Christian Reformed Church, Park Church, Saint Mark's Episcopal and
Westminster Presbyterian Church. And of course this is just the beginning.
There's a lot more work to do, but this is
exciting real quickly. I've got about a minute or so left, Thelma,
(13:56):
anything else I didn't ask you about you wanted to
share with our listeners.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I just want to take this moment to really celebrate this.
You know, when I first had this idea and started
to float it around some of the church leaders, pastors,
some of the nonprofit leaders, you know, people looked at
me like, this is a little bit of a crazy
idea to work across so many different denominations. You know,
in a world today where we are sometimes more divided
than united, people just weren't quite sure if we were
(14:21):
all going to be able to come together. But I
think what's amazing as believers is while we might have
some different theological perspectives, we are definitely in agreement in
what Christ modeled for us in terms of caring for
the poor, caring for those who don't have a home,
widows and orphans. So that is our common ground and
so it's been exciting to come together. It's been exciting
(14:42):
just to see the joy on people's faces that they
are like, Hey, this is a really tangible way for
me to get involved and for me to build a
relationship with someone that is having a very different experience
than me, but in many ways.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's just like me that is ensing Executive Director Deggish
Ministries Chris Puluski also with us CEO of.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Mel Trotter Ministries.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We're gonna have to do a part two down the road,
you guys, because there's just so much to do. I
want to celebrate both of you and this exciting partners
in ministry collaboration. Thank you so much for being in
studio with us.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Thank you, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan
Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly program designed to winform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I Mean Studio for this segment with Chris Pulaski. Chris
is CEO of Meltrotter Ministries. Also joining us is Thelma Enzinc.
Executive director of Degaggier Ministries, DEGAJ and Meltrotter. Part of
a number of nonprofits, churches across several denominations, and the
city of Grand Rapids all getting together for something big.
(00:38):
Where's a ribbon cutting just a few days ago on Thursday,
November twentieth for the formal launch of a community center
and service center here in Grand Rapids in the heart
Sided neighborhood, serving the homeless population in our great city.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
There has been so much groundwork to get to this point.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
First of all, Chris to my right, if you're keeping
score at home, Filma is to my far right.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thank you both for being in studio. Appreciate it, Thank you,
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This is something Chris, before we turned on the microphones,
you said has a really interesting story.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
It started with a phone call, is that right.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
It did it for myself. It was about six months ago,
maybe nine months ago. Somebody came to me and said
that there's a church that wants to maybe repurpose a
building at some points. Would you be interested in having
like a day center out of that church? And I've
been here a year, so I just hit my one
year anniversary and I was trying to congratulations, thank you,
I try to figure out which way was up, and
(01:42):
I had I had heard, you know, there was a
need for additional warming centers during the winter time. But
I'd also melt Theilma down the street who was doing
a warming center. We were doing a warming center, and
I thought, you know, I don't really want to do
this alone if I don't have to. And so I said,
if Film was doing it, I'd be interested in, you know,
like putting in some kind of application or a program together.
(02:05):
And the guy said, actually, Film has been working on
that for a little while. I say, well, that would
be great to be part of that. I would love
to do that.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
All right.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So a little bit of the backstory here. This is
you guys working on a need something you knew had
to happen. Filma pick it up from there if you will.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
So, we have a real need in a community for
a community center that offers emergency services right, a warm
place for people to be a meal, especially for unsheltered neighbors.
And Dejay and Meltrotter have had day centers community centers
for a number of years, but with the increased needs
that we've seen over the last few years, Digjay in particular,
(02:43):
have run out of room. We just have so many
single women seeking shelter, and so we were no longer
able to welcome the community into our community center, and
so we started talking with other organizations. But churches, do
you have space? Is there a place where we can
put a community center together? And what if we created
some partnerships between dej, Meltrotter, some of the local churches
(03:06):
the city of Grand Rapids and have a more permanent
space where our neighbors can come in and get those
emergency services met. But then also when people need resources,
they're all over the place. They have to try to
catch the bus to go meet and get medical health care,
get mental health care, be able to get access to
vital records. What if it was all located in one space,
(03:29):
and so this idea of a community center and service
center together was born, and all kinds of partners came
to the table, and we found that there were many
churches that were really interested not in just supporting the
work financially, but actually being a direct partner in the
planning and even hosting a community center and service center.
And so that brings us to where we are today
(03:50):
with this iteration at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I want to go back to something you both said
which is important for our listeners to know, which is
you've been serving the home for a long time at
Meltrotter at dega Je. What's been happening quietly and maybe
not so quietly in your world is this homeless issue
has become a huge issue. And I want to speak candidly.
This is not just them pointing the finger at those
homeless people. It's your neighbors. It's so many people who've
(04:17):
been squeezed out by high rents, by job cuts.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Homelessness is happening to middle class people. You guys. It's
not just a them thing anymore, Is that fair to say, Chris? Yeah,
it's affecting.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
It's a nationwide epidemic, and so we're seeing these rates
increase year after year after year, and even here in
Grand Rapids, we're seeing the rates increase like we'd never
had before.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, we've seen a point in time count and ground
rapids go from just above nine hundred and twenty twenty
to two hundred and thirty eight this past January. And
we know that's probably not capturing everyone that's experiencing homeless.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That's a thirty percent increase it is. That's really striking.
So you've got quite a group here that you just
referred to earlier film that. You've got Catholic Charities of
West Michigan, the city of Grand Rapids, but a lot
of churches and multiple denominations Cornerstone Church, Crossroads Bible Church,
First United Methodist Church, The Grave Christian Reformed Church, Park Church,
(05:17):
Saint Mark's Episcopal and Westminster Presbyterian Church, which is where
the new community center and service center will be located.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Talk about their role in that if you would, so.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
I'll say the whole consortium. So the idea is for
the church and to be the church. In my mind,
this is how the big C church comes together to
serve and be the hands and feet of Christ serving
some of the most vulnerable. There's a story in the
Bible and it goes about sheep and goats, and maybe
many people have heard it. You know, Christ, somebody asked Christ,
(05:51):
you know, who are the chosen and he said, well,
there's sheep and goats. The sheep, you know, they are
the chosen ones. You know, they came to visit the widow,
or for the foreigner. They took care of the prisoner.
They were the ones who took care of people in need.
There was the goats and they said, well, why are
we chosen? Well, you didn't do those things that the
sheep did. So in this case, we see this as
(06:12):
just an awesome way for the church to be the
church and serve some of the most vulnerable in our
community in a very tangible way.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, so many times we partner so closely with churches.
They come into Maltrotter, they come into Deja and they
Vluntier and they want to be a part of the
solution when it comes to serving our unhoused neighbors. But
we often hear from our churches we're not exactly sure
how to help. And so this community center and service
center gives them such a clear and tangible way. Let's
come in, let's volunteer, let's serve meals there, let's do
(06:42):
activities with our neighbors. And it's a very clear way
for our churches to do it with the support of
Maltrotter and dej who do this work every day.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, and there are people on the ground who are
helping homeless people understand that this will be available to them.
But I'll turn to you, Chris Puluski, in your role
as CEO of mel Trotter. A lot of this is communication.
Communication of people that are transit. You don't always know
where they are. How do you and Thelma then and
(07:13):
all of these other partners in this partners in ministry,
that's what this collaborative group is known as partners in Ministry.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
How do you get the word out that this place
is now open? It's awesome.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
So I'll take a step back and I'll say for
several years now, we've had a mobile shower unit and
we pulled that up in front of churches. Churches would
then supply a meal. Then we started to have service
providers come outs and provide different services. Catherine's Health we
had network when eighty and they would come to these
different churches when we had the shower unit and it
(07:45):
would rotate to a different church every day I think
was five days a week. And we're still doing this
these activities making sure people get a shower and services.
The thing was is how it got out of where
there was going to be at best word of mouth
people who are experiencing homeless.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
They talked to one another. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Also we have it posted nine different places. Also, we
have it on our websites, so they were finding out
before you with this rotational cycle. Now they're going to
have a single place that they can go and receive
services on a daily basis. So we're just excited that
we're going to.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Have a home. Yeah, this is pretty impressive.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
This community center and service center, which is now open,
features a warming and cooling space, restrooms, coffee, sandwiches and
snacks in the morning, lunch from Catholic Charities of West Michigan,
and other activities throughout the day. There'll be art and
things like that. I understand in my well prepared notes
here that Meltrotter Mobile shower Unit will be on Thursdays two.
(08:40):
This is really important to full time case managers and
community health workers to assist with housing and resources, and
then three full time safety and support specialists and space
for other service providers and partners to offer their services.
So this is this is not only a collaboration and name,
this is like right there in the space, a huge
(09:05):
difference maker for those people needing to kind of figure
life out once they're homeless.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, we really getting an opportunity here to put together
some things we've learned over the last few years. Like
Chris said, we have churches like Crossroads Bible Church who said, hey,
every Tuesday, we can host some partners in one space,
and we saw how many people came out, and we
saw how many people were more successful because they had
a one stop shop. And so we said, let's make
sure we have this Monday through Friday, eight to three
(09:35):
all winter long, so that we can be a space
where somebody cannot only come in and get warm and
get those emergency services, but then go and meet with
a case manager, and the case manager can use motivational
interviewing skills to ask someone, you know, we're your barriers
to housing. When have you been successful and being able
to retain employment? What are some of those things that
you need be able to achieve your goals because case
(09:56):
management works when it's client centered, when we support each
person's gifts and their unique journey forward. And so we're
kind of bringing together all the best things they've learned
at deje at Meltrotter as a community when it comes
to serving our on house neighbors.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Chris, I'm going to go back.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's Stelma en Sync, the executive director oft Degaje Ministries.
Chris Puluski with a CEO of mel Trotter Ministries. I'm
going to go back to what you said. That scripture
on the Goats and the Sheep really about Chraze in
the Bible, saying what you did at least.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Of them is what you did to me.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
The whole importance of that, and as you said, not
only feeding people, visiting them in prison, reaching them, connecting
them at the lowest point in their lives. There are
people listening Thelma and Chris, who I hope were at
least thinking about what you said and thinking, Okay, what
(10:51):
can I do?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
What is my role in this?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Because I know you're going to need resources beyond what
some of these community organizations can offer.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Maybe people in their own churches. I'll get the word out.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Let's talk about activating and getting engaged with our listeners.
I'll start with you first, Chris, what do you want
our listeners to know in terms of how they can
engage with this new community center and service center.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
So my request, my hope, my prayer is to do something,
and this is a great opportunity to do that. So
people feel overwhelmed sometimes, be it with the economy, be
it with homelessness, whatever the issue is, this is something
where people can actually do something. So I would ask
people to pray. Please, pray for what's going on down there,
Pray for our guests, Pray for the people that are
(11:36):
working down there, Pray for our partners. So I ask
people to pray. Second of all, volunteers donate. Donate to
the center, donate to either of our organizations. There's a
lot of other great organizations.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Donate.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
But my heart, my desire is that people get involved
and this is something they can actually do, something that's
so so tangible.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, Thelma, what do you want your supporters, your listeners
on the other end of the radio to know about
how they can support this new really powerful ministry, this collaboration,
this partners in ministry collaboration.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
So currently the volunteer sign up is hosted on Maltratter's website,
So if you just go to Maltratter's website, you can
sign up there to volunteer. When people come in too volunteer,
we equip them and support them. So you don't have
to know a lot. You just have to be willing
to step into the space and be vulnerable and just
build a relationship with with somebody new. And so we
(12:30):
will provide them with all of the training that they
need to successful in the space. And very soon we'll
also be sharing an Amazon wish list of just some
really basic supplies that we need in the space every day.
We need socks, we need men and women's underwear, we
need some basic hygiene supplies, just some things to support
our neighbor's needs as they come into the space.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I want to go back to what Chris said, put
yourself out there and really a lot of people it's
easy to write a check and that's helpful to meltrotter
dot org. They can interface with you there on your
website in terms of getting involved, maybe saying I want
to be active.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Beyond that, what else should they know? Chris, it's just
a great opportunity.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
I mean, this is the time of year where people,
I think, take stock. I mean we're coming up on Thanksgiving,
coming up near Christmas. I think this is the time
where people, you know, think about what's important and look
for opportunities, and people feel overwhelmed. And this is just
a great way to be part of this movement that's
going on in Grand Rapids.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Chris Puluski, CEO of mel Trotter Ministries.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You also have the City of Grand Rapids providing some
funding for this, Cornerstone Church, Crossrowoods Bible Church, First United Methodists,
Lagrave Christian Reformed Church, Park Church, Saint Mark's Episcopal and
Westminster Presbyterian Church. And of course this is just the beginning.
There's a lot more work to do, but this is
exciting real quickly. I've got about a minute or so left, Thelma,
(13:56):
anything else I didn't ask you about you wanted to
share with our listeners.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I just want to take this moment to really celebrate this.
You know, when I first had this idea and started
to float it around some of the church leaders, pastors,
some of the nonprofit leaders, you know, people looked at
me like, this is a little bit of a crazy
idea to work across so many different denominations. You know,
in a world today where we are sometimes more divided
than united, people just weren't quite sure if we were
(14:21):
all going to be able to come together. But I
think what's amazing as believers is while we might have
some different theological perspectives, we are definitely in agreement in
what Christ modeled for us in terms of caring for
the poor, caring for those who don't have a home,
widows and orphans. So that is our common ground and
so it's been exciting to come together. It's been exciting
(14:42):
just to see the joy on people's faces that they
are like, Hey, this is a really tangible way for
me to get involved and for me to build a
relationship with someone that is having a very different experience
than me, but in many ways.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's just like me that is ensing Executive Director Deggish
Ministries Chris Puluski also with us CEO of.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Mel Trotter Ministries.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We're gonna have to do a part two down the road,
you guys, because there's just so much to do. I
want to celebrate both of you and this exciting partners
in ministry collaboration. Thank you so much for being in
studio with us.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Thank you, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan
Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio
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