WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — From January to March, a space at the First Church of Williamsport will be used as a Code Blue shelter every day. The Code Blue Light Program started in John and Susan Best's home in 2018.
"We are a very active and busy church, and therefore, we open our center nine o'clock at night because there's lots of activities going until that time, and at 7:30 in the morning, we close down and become a church again," said John Best First Church of Williamsport volunteer.
Last year, the Code Blue Light Program served 91 individuals.
The program provides dinner, cots to sleep on, and breakfast during the cold months.
The Code Blue Light Program will partner with area organizations in the new year to provide even more services, like permanent housing and mental health assistance.
To raise money for the program, Robert Minier, a veteran of the Veterans Grove Memorial in Old Lycoming Township, approached the Bests about holding a fundraiser.
"We're just so thankful because Bob understands the homeless epidemic in this country and particularly understands it from the standpoint of how many veterans are homeless, and what he said to us is we just want to do something because we're veterans, and we want to reach out to those veterans that are homeless," said Best.
Rob Minier and other fundraiser participants plan to be in cardboard boxes at the Veterans Grove Memorial Saturday night to showcase what it's like to be a homeless veteran.
"Code Blue is a ministry of First Church, and it's really self-funded through donations. You know we've been blessed with people stepping up to provide food and other supplies, so we're just thankful that they've put this together and that we've become a beneficiary," said Best.
Veterans will be at the Veterans Grove Memorial on Friday and Saturday, selling hot dogs and taking donations.
All the money raised will go towards the Code Blue Light Program supplies.