The roots of homelessness and Bellingham’s responses to it are examined in a powerful and compassionate Lighthouse Mission Ministries documentary released this month.
“Hope for Bellingham: Response to Homelessness,” a 42-minute documentary, includes interviews with Lighthouse Mission guests, staff and volunteers. “Hope for Bellingham” was produced by Veritas Media and sponsored by Faithlife and Windermere Whatcom, all based in Bellingham. It’s an effort to inform people about homelessness and encourage them to get involved in solutions, said Hans Erchinger-Davis, President & CEO at the Lighthouse Mission in Bellingham.
“We can’t do this alone,” Erchinger-Davis said. “We’re working with government entities, other nonprofit organizations, businesses and volunteers. We need everybody to be at the table having the conversations that are necessary.”
Erchinger-Davis is hopeful that civic organizations, neighborhood groups, churches and more will use the documentary as a launchpad to discussions about homelessness and their response to it. It can be seen online at https://youtu.be/ZCdnI-oW6wY. “Hope for Bellingham” has five chapters: Falling into Homelessness; Trust: The First Step towards Healing; Road to Recovery: Addressing Trauma; Restoration: Getting Your Life Back; and Community: All in to Heal Homelessness.
“There’s a continuum of care that starts with outreach and advances to recovery before we can talk about restoration,” Erchinger-Davis said. “We’ve learned plenty in nearly 100 years of serving people in homelessness and hope that people will take an hour to become better informed about this complex issue.”
Lighthouse Mission Ministries has been helping people who are homeless since 1923. The staff and volunteers care for as many as 300-plus people each day and provide a continuum of services aimed at ending homelessness through street outreach, enhanced shelters, addiction recovery, spiritual support, and aftercare. Lighthouse Mission Ministries announced in its last annual report the nonprofit organization had served more than 237,000 nutritious meals and provided more than 78,000 nights of safe shelter with the help of 915 volunteers and interns.
To make a donation, volunteer or seek a speaker, call Lighthouse Mission Ministries at 360-733-5120 or visit thelighthousemission.org.
