DATE: Friday, June 20, 1997                 TAG: 9706200944

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 4    EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   41 lines

VOLUNTEERS FOR THE HOMELESS TO PLAN FUTURE

After raising more than $16,000 through one fund-raiser last year, the Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless are taking extra steps to make sure the money is well-spent.

Members of the 26 churches involved in sheltering the homeless will meet at 2:30 p.m. Sunday to brainstorm about what will happen next with the organization.

{REST} The meeting will be held at Churchland Baptist Church, 3031 Churchland Blvd.

``We are going to get ideas from the people who have been involved,'' said David Stephenson, outgoing president of the group.

Stephenson said the group has a mission statement but that this exercise will help members prioritize needs and make sure the group is headed in the right direction.

The organization's host churches, which take turns sheltering the homeless during the winter, doubled from five to 10 last year.

They include Trinity Episcopal, Monumental United Methodist, First Presbyterian, St. Paul's Catholic, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial United Methodist, Church of Resurrection, Craddock Baptist, Ebenezer Baptist, Holy Angels Catholic and St. Therese's Catholic Church in Western Branch.

Sixteen support churches in Portsmouth and Chesapeake provide meals and volunteers to the effort. There are also individual groups, including a sorority, and 16 support churches that provide meals and volunteers for the shelters.

Zion Baptist Church has a morning drop-in center that offers breakfast and showers to the homeless three days a week.

Last year, the Volunteers for the Homeless opened on 119 consecutive nights and sheltered an average of 35 individuals a night.

Kevin Reside,a member of Holy Angels Catholic Church in Cradock, is the new president of the organization.

Other officers are Bill Rowley, vice president; John Grook, treasurer; and Anne Long, secretary. Margaret Lewis is shelter coordinator.

For more information, call 485-2142. <

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