contributed photos

A warm, safe place to sleep and a hot meal are being offered at a new shelter in Washington. The new Outreach Center is open at 604 South Iowa Avenue. The facility helps those in need, especially people who are homeless. The center is operated by Tribulation and Trust Ministries and Darren Brown is the director, he spurred the creation of the shelter, “The whole project started when I started seeking God about what it was that I was supposed to do when my wife and I came back to Iowa. We were running a similar ministry out in Pennsylvania and it’s still in operation today. And my wife’s parents’ health started failing a little bit, so we decided to come home and take care of Mom and Dad. And in the process of that, I started looking for what it would be that God would have me do around here, because I’m always about doing things of this nature.” A $20,000 donation from the On His Path Foundation of Wayland helped get the project off the ground, and grants and donations are currently funding the center.

Ultimately, Brown would like to open a secondhand store in Washington to fund the facility and its programs, “And staff that with volunteers and then use the funding to support the ministry and then we can be self-supportive in that manner. Cash donations are hard to come by this day and age a lot, but people have a lot of stuff in America here, and they can donate that and they’re willing to. And so, we’re just trying to figure out ways that we can turn that into where we can be self-supportive. So we’re starting a drive now to raise the $10,000-$15,000 that it’s going to take to start that secondhand store.”

The Outreach Center has emergency housing, a food pantry, clothing, and transportation available. Men, women, and children can stay at the center with a male staff member on the men’s side and a female staff member on the women’s side throughout the night. If you need assistance, the shelter can be contacted at 319-653-5871 and it is open 4-8 p.m. and dinner is served at 6 p.m.