We are a Metrowest IHN Congregation

Our Guests are transported by the MIHN van to the Network Day Center from 7:00 am – 5:00 pm, 7 days/week. The Day Center, located at the First Baptist Church in downtown Natick, is staffed by Director Beth Cooper, Assistant Director Marcia Praver, Van Drivers, and many volunteers. It is here that our Guests receive the help they need to attain permanent housing. Our Guest Families hunger for more than just food and shelter. With every smile, every word, and every gesture of kindness and respect, we allow the Spirit of Christ to flow through us to feed their souls. Thank You for Your Prayers and Participation!

Volunteer Opportunities

Sign up is easy! Click on the IHN Sign up Calendar (top right or here).

Evening Meal Preparer and Host: 2 adults & 1 adult on-call
5:15 – 8:00 p.m.  Bring your prepared meal, eat in fellowship with our Guests, and afterwards help them clean up.  Stay until our overnight hosts arrive.  One additional meal preparer needed.

Activity Volunteer:

Overnight Hosts: 2 adults, one must be female
8:00 p.m.- 6:00 a.m. (2 people/night – one person must be a woman) Provide assistance to our Guests as needed.  Bring your own bed linens – airbeds will be supplied.  Volunteer for Breakfast too!

Breakfast Volunteers: 2 adults, one must be female
6:00 – 7:30 a.m.  Put the coffee on! Set out the donated milk, juice, cereal, breads, fruit, and clean up. Guests leave - 6:45 a.m. M-F / 7:30 a.m.Sunday.

Saturday Breakfast: 2 adults, one must be female
6:00 – 9a.m.   You supply and prepare a hot breakfast and clean up.  Guests leave at 8:30 a.m.

Sunday  Set-up/Take-down:  
Unload the bedding from the van at ~ 8:00a.m.

Set-up at NOON: ~1 to 4 guest rooms (one room for each family) and host room.  Take down classroom tables/chairs, inflate and make up the airbeds, arrange rooms and dividers.
Take-down 8:00 a.m. (following Sunday) Deflate airbeds, take down and put away room dividers, reset classroom tables/chairs.

Laundry Volunteers: 
Sunday morning (up to 14 people) After our families leave, take home a re-useable container holding the linens for one person.  Wash all the linens, put back into the container, and store in your home until needed for our next hosting week.

How to Prepare to become an IHN Volunteer Please refer to our Guests as “Guest Families who are temporarily without homes”, and avoid the label “homeless”.

• Attend a training class. Our Guests are going through very difficult times and may feel beaten and broken.  In order to provide a caring and supportive environment, it is important that we understand their needs.  During the 2 hour training class, we will watch a video of IHN Guests describing their feelings in response to words and actions from well-intentioned volunteers. We will discuss what we can say and do to help them feel valued.  And we will learn important guidelines we need to follow. The training will be offered prior to each week of hosting, but you only need to attend it one time – and only if you will be interacting with our Guests.
• Complete a CORI check.  In accordance with the “Safe Church Policy” at CTK, if you will be interacting with our guests, we ask that you complete paperwork for a criminal background check called a CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) check. The paperwork is easy and will be submitted along with a copy of your driver’s license by our church office without cost to you or CTK. CORI checks will be done during Volunteer training or upon request.

Volunteer Opportunities at the IHN Day Center

First Baptist Church, 13 Common Street, Natick

No need to make a long term commitment!  You can volunteer once a month, or less.  Bring your book, your knitting, or use the computer during the quiet time.  To volunteer, please contact Beth Cooper, MIHN Director at the Day Center Office  508-318-4820.