Sanctuary Homeless Shelter (The)

About Us

The Sanctuary Homeless Shelter of Williams County exists to provide clothing, food, and shelter to the homeless all in the name and love of Jesus Christ. The Sanctuary was started in 1993 by an empty nesting couple and their Pastor, who wanted to open their homes to anyone who might need a little help. Soon they realized one room would not be enough, so the Sanctuary rented two room and in next three months it grew to 4 apartments, similar to what we have presently. In 1995 the Sanctuary was incorporated and in 2013 the Sanctuary building was purchased. In intial days the Sanctuary cared for 20 families and now an average of 80-90 families a year. in 2022, we serve at least 110 individuals and provided 4677 nights of stay to 83 families. An average person stayed 56 nights. For example Mr. D was abused by his family and struggled with PTSD. Through helping him save financially and working closely with our community partners we were able to help him find a more permanent housing and is no longer homeless.
Our program is to help people heal from generational poverty and system of public assistance programs. Our first of 4 core rules is to get a job and keep a job unless one has income through social security; we help them save upto 80% of your income so that you have enough to pay for downpayment for an apartment. We serve single men in our men's apartment, single women and single mothers with kids in our women's apartment, and two family apartments for families in homelessness.