Muskegon, Michigan is now home to our much-needed 4th network in the Wolverine State. Michigan's unemployment rate is the highest in the country and Muskegon's stands at 22%. A January count found 137 homeless children in the city and the city's sole shelter does not take intact families or older boys.
Rev. Bill Uetricht of First Lutheran and retired UMC pastor, Susan Hagans led the effort, helped by their neighbor network in Grand Rapids, along with Pat Bradbury and Tom Cioffi. Their combined determination got the network up and running, virtually from scratch, in only eighteen months.Temple United Methodist Church was the first host, as a family of a single mom and three kids came in last week, joined shortly after by a couple with a baby. The network comprises eleven hosts and a day center at a house donated by Church of God United. The director is Destinee Keener, who has extensive experience with housing programs and the faith community. The network used creative means to secure funding; a box city by congregation youth and a pedaling pastor who biked around Lake Michigan to raise money (his story is told in the Fall, 2009 issues of Hospitality and Family Promise.)
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