My church recently hosted 20 to 30 homeless people at our church building for a week. Some churches host for a bit longer than that, sometimes two or three weeks. Since it was our first year participating in the Safe Nights program, we limited ourselves to one week.

Safe Nights is run by Life Styles, a nonprofit organization that uses several programs to help those in our county. They run a “supply depot,” collecting food, water, and gas money for those in this area who have lost their homes or can’t afford food. They run the Safe Nights program, which is dedicated to helping the homeless in our area. They also maintain a number of homes, giving homeless people a place to stay throughout the year as they get back on their feet.

Safe Nights has been operating for about three years, and is for Charles County, Md., residents. Applicants must pass a background check. Those accepted to the program must call in by 4 p.m. to tell Dana Hardy and the other Safe Nights staff whether they will be there that night. It is necessary to be at the hosting church by 7 p.m. Everyone is then fed dinner, after which they relax and socialize. One fairly dedicated group of four played Spades for nearly an hour each night. Lights-out is at 10 p.m. Everyone gets up around 6 a.m. and eats, and all are out by 7. The program runs Nov. 1-Mar. 31. Life Styles works very closely with the Charles County sheriff’s department and the board of education.

Some of the people who stayed at our church had family or friends who knew their predicament but refused to allow them to stay in their homes. For instance, one woman, who was old enough to be my grandmother, had a son who would allow her to sleep on his property in her truck but would not allow her to sleep in his house. Another family, who had five children, stayed at the church overnight with everyone else. The father went off to his job during the day while the mother took the children to their grandfather’s house. There she homeschools them. The oldest child was about twelve, the youngest was five.

Many in the program were there because they could not hold a job, or circumstances had turned against them. One man had worked very successfully with a logging company, until one of the machines squeezed off part of his finger. In the time it took his injury to heal, he was fired and then lost his house. Another gentleman (and I use this in the very literal sense of the word) was an Army veteran. He had served in a hospital during both the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm. He was perhaps 70 or 75 and spoke as my grandfather does: kindly, politely, and very astutely. He observed many things while he sat quietly eating or watching the others, some of which he imparted to me. His legs were weakening slowly; he didn’t have the strength and stability he had once possessed.

One man was a Moroccan, who had been in the United States for a little over seven years. He spoke extremely softly, and I never really grasped his full circumstance. Another man was a former Marine who was removed from duty. After a bomb blew up an Iraqi bank and showered the area with coins, gold, and jewels, he found a diamond and attempted to smuggle it back to the United States. He told many interesting tales, most about humorous things that had happened while he watched the proceedings of war. Because of his discharge, he hadn’t been able to hold a job. Most business owners thought him dishonest and refused to hire him. Those in the program acted like one big happy family, which is to say that they loved to hate each other. Many clients of Safe Nights have some mental, alcohol, or drug issues, so at any given time one or two of the clients may lock horns over even a trivial issue. However, though there was a great racial mix, there were scarcely any racial problems. This, according to one of the people with whom I spoke, shows how far our society has come: that specific groups of people will stick together regardless of differences.

The fact that our county has been participating with Safe Nights for only two years and already has begun to show success has influenced several other organizations. Two nearby counties are planning a Safe Nights-type program for their own communities. One of the organizations is being spearheaded almost entirely by a local Roman Catholic church. St. Mary’s County will hopefully be the first of many following in the footsteps of Charles County.

Our congregation seems to have grown in spirit by participating, and there was a contribution of time, money, or food from every family in our church. Some gave more time than others, but this was mostly because of prior commitments one or two families had made.

I met a number of fantastic people. One of them was a man named Dana Hardy, who acted as the program director for Life Styles. He originally got involved with Life Styles when he had to do community service as a sentence for speeding. He saw what they were doing and was very impressed. They offered him a job there, and he had been working there ever since.

Dana is originally from Queens, N.Y., though he lived in Illinois for six years. He moved to Maryland in 1992 and has lived here ever since. By schooling, Dana was an engineer, but after he left college he realized it was fairly boring for him. He became a salesman for a while, and managed property for close to 11 years.

He is in charge of all the programs run by Life Styles, including a youth counseling program, Safe Nights for the homeless, senior rides for people over 60, and Safe Rides, a program that specializes in moving the handicapped or those without transportation of their own. He also travels up and down the East Coast, helping other churches set up compassion centers. He supervises a clothing closet and food pantry.

Life Styles was established by a woman named Sandy Washington, who was working in a similar venue. She felt that God had placed upon her heart a desire to help other people, and to see the efforts through; to see what God would do in their lives, no matter what ethnicity they were or what walk of life they had followed.

Dana stressed one point in particular: that Life Styles was not a job, but was a ministry. He works long hours, and Life Styles is a nonprofit, faith-based organization; so the pay isn’t great. But the rewards are so rich that they cannot be described or have a monetary value placed on them.

The program thus far has been very successful. The final goal of the program is that all those who come through the program are successfully integrated into society, possessing jobs and homes. A big bonus is the occasional conversion to Christianity that the staff of Life Styles have been blessed to witness.