Thursday, June 23, 4-7pm, The Open Shelter, 1037 Parsons Ave.

The Open Shelter cordially invites you, your friends, and your family, to our Open House at our new home!

Come see how your support helps us “Stay Behind With Those Left Behind,” the homeless and marginally housed in our community.

Delicious food and drinks will be provided.

We also will be joined by our very special guests:

• Charleta B. Taveres, CEO, PrimaryOne Health

• Elizabeth Brown, President Pro Tem, Columbus City Council

• Senator Hearcel F. Craig

• Ed Hillman, CEO and President of CMHA [Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority]

Tours of the facility will be provided. This begins a new chapter in our nearly 40 years of serving the most vulnerable in our community.

Parking will be available at the following locations.

• Street parking

• Church for All People (parking lot at the corner of Parsons Ave. and Stanley Ave)

• Parsons Branch Library [1113 Parsons Ave.]

RSVPs are not necessary! Please join us and spread the word!

Who We Are

The Open Shelter opened on December 6, 1983 as the first 24-hour emergency walk-in shelter in Ohio. Since that time, over 40,000 men, women and children have been helped. However, in July 2004, The Open Shelter itself joined the hundreds of homeless persons on the streets with nowhere to call home.

Our address is: The Open Shelter, Inc., 1037 Parsons Ave., Columbus, OH 43206.

The Open Shelter continues advocacy efforts on behalf of our homeless and marginally housed neighbors. This facility serves as the hub for our Outreach services, which are desperately needed. There are hundreds of persons each day who are forced to live “in the open,” on the streets, in abandoned buildings, on railroad land, and under bridges. Cut off, excluded, and left behind they turn to The Open Shelter.

This partnership-in-service also allows us to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors, working with the Social Security Administration processing applications and appeals, continuing to provide payeeship services and assistance in securing and then retaining housing. Through the generosity of our supporters, we also provide the basics of survival — hot meals, sack lunches, food, clothing, personal hygiene items, tarps, and sleeping bags.

Hosted by The Open Shelter.