In these challenging times of stay-at-home orders, Bethany House of Hospitality provides an essential service and so its staff continues to accompany the young women (and children) staying there. It is, after all, “home” for them and every effort is being made to keep them safe and healthy.
Many of Bethany’s volunteers have been forced to stay away—for their safety and the safety of the residents. But for some, especially our English tutors, that has not stopped the valuable service they offer. English tutoring and conversation classes for the women take place four days a week through Zoom videoconferencing. Counseling is also being done in this way and there was actually an art class given over Zoom. In this day and age, this is a very familiar way for this age group to communicate, so it’s not foreign (no pun intended) to them.
During this time, board meetings are also held through Zoom with all participants safely in their own homes.
Since October 2017, Bethany House of Hospitality has housed more than 40 women and 7 children from Central America, Africa and the Middle East. The average length of stay has been 6 months.