3 /5 Abdul: First , THIS IS A MENS ONLY SHELTER.
Unless things changed.
Also ,this was my experience at the time.
Maybe things have changed.....
Personal Pros
Better than no shelter at all.
You can sleep, clean yourself , get food and coffee in morning . Felt reasonably safe from violence. You can keep a small amount of stuff there.
Personal Cons
Best for people who have almost nothing.
They have rules which can make an overall
decent , law abiding , freedom - loving person feel uncomfortable , and possibly
``less - than " , as if the place is for ex -cons and the mentally unstable.
Rules like daily metal detection involving taking off ones belt .
They also require you to where a mask and take your temperature before you enter premises, and they may comment if you dont have it on. You can get mail there, but , they put it on a common area table , that anyone has access to.
Apparently , they trust you not to steal mail , but , not enough to let you walk inside sleeping area without metal detection.
They have a weird rule about no bags inside sleeping area. Only one clear plastic bag for hygiene. Not good for some who keeps a lot of plastic bags to protect personal property
from moisture, and other potential damage .
Had important papers get damaged due to rain and wear . The only shift you can work is a morning shift to the best of my knowledge.
This is said to keep from disrupting others.
Nothing christian about this place aside from it once being a church. This place gets funding from the government and seems to
lean towards government - style beuracracy.
That is good for enforcing repeatable, constructive rules and policies, but bad if one feels the policies and rules are not the best or are counter - productive, due to rigidity.
I personally wish they only called it central city mission, and lost the Lutheran part.
Seems misleading in my opinion.
Again, best for men with close to nothing.
For men who are overlall , law - abiding and freedom loving , it can feel unnecessarily complicated , in a way which negatively affects morale and self - esteem.