Advocates for Loving Thy Neighbors

"Let me see if we need to pull some of these casseroles out," said Alfie Rulis, 60, the church's education director, as she washed grapes in the kitchen for organist Andrea Boudra, 28, to add to the fruit salad.

Church volunteer Genie Davis, 77, peered in the oven. "You might want to turn the oven off and leave them in."

About 100 Holy Trinity members, half the church's active members, pitched in for the week's worth of meals and accommodations, Halpern said.

Four long rows of tables with white paper tablecloths were piled with snack bags, platters of vegetables and pretzels. Room dividers bisected the sleeping areas, and the guests' sleeping bags and blankets, cleaned each week, were lined up along a wall.

The church's choir room had been set up as a TV room, and a classroom was converted to a "store," where guests could pick up washcloths, toiletries, clothing and books.

Another classroom had been designated the "snoring room," for the noisy sleepers.

Guests received breakfast in the morning before being bused back to the Lamb Center.

Before dinner, they hurried to grab their sleeping bags and stake out a place. Against the walls was the favorite spot. Some rolled out their bags and stretched out to grab a short nap before dinner.

"This is where I am," called one regular to another woman pulling a wheeled suitcase, who was in the hypothermia shelter for the first time.

Church volunteer Ed Grove, 66, sat at one table and talked to a woman huddled in a black overcoat about her federal government work experience.

"Some of your basic skills are portable," he told her.

Eddie Robinson, 65, a former trash collector who has been homeless for several years, nibbled on pretzels as he waited for dinner. Usually he sleeps outside, even in the winter, he said. It's been good to spend the winter in a warm place with hot food, he said. "The people on the streets need to be in a shelter like this."

Deb Haynes, 37, an at-home mother who helped coordinate the church's sheltering program, reflected on the way helping out turned into a mission and the idea that there is more needed than a single night of help.

"To be honest, I was scared," Haynes said. "But, of course, in the first 10 minutes of the first night, I was like, 'Okay, these are my neighbors.' "