It's three o'clock on a Friday afternoon. While most students are just finishing up with their classes for the week and heading back to their dorm to take a nap, watch television or talk to their friends online, a small group of students gathers inside the student center at St. Thomas Moore Church. Crossroads is the second largest homeless shelter in New Hampshire and has been in existence since 1982. The facility, which houses people from eastern Rockingham County, is designed as a transitional shelter. This means that the families and the singles staying there are being helped to get back onto the right track.
Funding comes from a variety of different places.
Twenty percent of their funding is from the government, with other contributions coming from The United Way. When the students arrive at the shelter they are divided into a few different groups, each working on a number of different small tasks. A group of students is sent into a small room to file papers, while others are sent into the food storage room to organize some meals for a group that is coming to visit, and yet another group of students is in a different room creating bed wraps. Most of the students that are involved in this project heard about it through the bulletin at St. Thomas Moore Church. It feels good to know that you are spending a portion of your week helping others.