The Ministry team for the Homeless was founded in 1994 specifically to reach out to the Homeless community of Boise. Initial investigation revealed that the various social service organizations in Boise provide very good to excellent services for people who are homeless. Construction of Community House improved the situation for the homeless by providing first class temporary shelter for individuals and families.

During the first year of operation the Ministry team for the Ministry team for the Homeless spent a lot of effort creating articles for First Press, our biweekly news letter. The purpose of these articles was to report on, and to educate the congregation about the homeless situation in Boise. An archive of these articles is located here.

In October of 1995 the Homeless Ministry followed the FUMC by sponsoring a monthly "Friendship Dinner for the Homeless." The Homeless people in our community are fed regularly by El-Ada soup kitchen, Rescue Mission and Salvation Army.

During the summer of 1996 Congregation Beth Israel began a third monthly dinner utilizing the FUMC facilities. During the remainder of 1996 and into 1997 we searched in vain for a fourth congregation to sponsor a dinner. The goal of the ministry team for the Homeless was to have a dinner every week. Finally in December of 1997 our church's Boise High Ministry team stepped forward and offered to do the fourth dinner. In February 1998 the fourth dinner was launched.

During the summer and fall of 2000 the congregation at St John's Cathedral decided to host a dinner and the first one was held January 10, 2001 and will continue on the 2nd Thursday of each month. We are truly blessed to have four congregations involved in the Friendship dinners. This translates into a better situation for the economically deprived in our community because more people are becoming aware of their plight. 143 people attend the first Friendship Dinner at St John's and it was a joyous occasion.

St John's dinner brings the number of churches up to four and the number of dinners per month up to four. If we multiply 12 * 4 we get 48 dinners per year. Since there are 52 weeks in the year we recognize that there is 13 weeks per quarter and that translates into one week per quarter without a Friendship Dinner. Thanksgiving dinners are plentiful in our community so the extra week in the fourth quarter is not a problem. A secondary goal of the Ministry team for the Homeless is to provide Friendship dinners on these three extra weeks. With your continued support and the Lord's blessing we have be able to accomplish this.

We are thankful for the support of our congregation. They continue to donate time, food and money to this worth while cause. These dinners would not be possible without this support.