RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Sue and John Best, founders of Code Blue warming shelter for persons experiencing homelessness, pose in a sleeping area at First Church in Williamsport.

Some are visible. You see them on the streets, particularly in Williamsport, carrying their life’s possessions in a canvas backpack or maybe a shopping bag. Others are not so visible, like that student who is getting on the bus in the morning after spending the night on a friend’s couch. These are the images of the people who lack housing in the community and according to John Best, who with his wife, Sue, established the Code Blue Shelter in 2018, the difference between them and those who have permanent housing is “paper thin.”

“From a perspective standpoint, what we recognize is the difference between us — between Sue and I — and those that are homeless, is really paper thin. We’ve gotten a break and they haven’t. We grew up in pretty standard families — they were stable. And these people, for one reason or another, didn’t get that break, or have not gotten the right kind of a break. They had a housing disaster, or they’ve not been able to hold a job,” John said.

“…or made some bad decisions,” Sue added.

“What we’ve also discovered is, by and large, these are nice, great people. You know, a lot of people say they’re homeless and we’re a little scared of them because they’re different. Well, they’re not. They’re nice people that really just want an opportunity to be human, and that’s one of the things that we provide with a warm, safe place to sleep. And we give them a hot meal every night, and then a pick-up breakfast,” John said.

The Code Blue Shelter is located in the basement of First Church, 604 Market St. It is open from 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. this year from January 5 to March 27. They provide a cot for each person, a blanket and a pillow. The hot meal is at 9 p.m. and is provided by donations from people and businesses who want to help.

“I put out a meal train, and a lot of people sign up that way, or they call the church, or some people just drop off food,” Sue said.

“We’ve had a lot of people from the community who have helped in one way or the other with food or things like individual snack bags or breakfast bars and things that we can give them as a take out during the day,” she said.

There are services that are available Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 to 10 a.m. provided by West Branch Drug and Alcohol Abuse Commission, STEP-“211” Rapid Re-housing and the Joinder Board mental health.

Other services include River Valley Health and Dental Services; haircuts; legal advice; veterans’ services; budgeting; help with ID’s; birth certificates; Social Security card; and on-line job applications.

There is also a Bible study on Sunday nights.

“We usually get about a dozen people that come into that and we do it every Sunday night for the three months that we’re open. Then on Sunday mornings, we invite them to stay and go to church with us. And many of them do,” John said.

When the Code Blue Warming Shelter began in 2018, it was open when the temperatures descended to a certain number, but now it is open overnight for those three months no matter what the thermometer says.

Since it opened, the shelter has seen an uptick in the number of people seeking a warm place to sleep during the frigid part of the year. Last year alone, they served 91 separate individuals. Their capacity is 30 per night and the shelter is staffed by 51 volunteers who serve on a rotating basis.

“We try to have two or three men and two women every night. That seems like the right number of hosts to have, because we get up to about 30 people,” John said.

‘Our philosophy is that we want to be there with these people. We want to live with them rather than be supervisors, really, to help them take their next step in life. You know, which could be as simple as getting their boots dry so when they go out in the morning they don’t freeze their feet. Or, on the other extreme, it could be permanent housing, or one of 1000 steps in between,” he said.

“We get people that couch surf so they’re not out along the river in a tent. They’re staying at a brother’s house tonight and a cousin’s house tomorrow night. And you know, they just surf from one couch to another. But on the other hand, we get some that have been living in tents along the river,” he explained.

Looking ahead, the Bests have formed Next Step Ministries of Williamsport Inc. and are waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to grant non-profit status so that they can expand the ministry.

“We really need to move forward, but our goal is through that particular corporation number one to found a day center, where these folks, when they leave Code Blue, it’s 7:30 in the morning, have got some place to go, other than the library or Wegmans or the bus station or wherever,” John said.

“We want a day center where they can come in; they can get a shower; they can do their laundry; they can watch TV. They can receive rehabilitative services from the various agencies in our community. Apply for jobs, get grooming tips and then really be helped on their next life step,” he said.

This Next-Step facility would be located somewhere in Williamsport, John said.

“We accept everybody so the place can’t be in a neighborhood with children. We accept people who are required to register under Megan’s list. We’re the only shelter that does that in this community, so we need to be careful where we put it,” he said.

“At this point, we don’t have a specific location, and really we have not started our fundraising efforts, but hopefully as soon as we receive the nonprofit status, we’re going to get into that big time,” he said.

“This day center and ultimately, a year round day and night center needs to be a collective effort with not only the faith community, but with city government, county government. We’ve met with them and with private individuals..with Next Step, we’re proposing this to be year round. We’re proposing that it will be professionally run and then supported with volunteers, rather than the old volunteer kind of thing that we do with Code Blue at this point,” he explained.

The Bests have been in contact with similar centers in other communities for specific discussions about the model they are proposing.

When asked why they would take on such an undertaking at this point in their lives, the Best’s, who admit that they are just past their mid-70’s and retired, said it’s a calling for them.

“We’re taking this on because we have faith in Jesus Christ, and we feel that he’s calling us to do this,” John said.

“Jesus said, what you’ve done for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you’ve done for me. And we take that to heart. Sometimes we sit back and think, Why in the world are we doing this? And it comes back to that it’s a faith thing, and we just keep getting called back to do it,” John said.

He added that “we’re really using this housing and this feeding as an opportunity just to share the love and the hope of Jesus Christ, because that’s the message we want to convey. We’re really using the warming center and the food as a vehicle toward that end.”

John pointed out how the community has changed from even five years ago with the number of people without a permanent home growing.

“People need to understand that this is getting bigger every year. It used to be in Williamsport you could drive from Market Street west for five or six blocks, and you might see a homeless person or somebody you thought was homeless. Now, if you drive that same distance, it’s very evident that there are homeless people,” John said.

“I think many of them have lost their dream. You know, they’ve been dealt some difficult hardships, and they’ve accepted that. And a lot of them, I think it’s not only their dream, but their hope,” Sue said.

To illustrate the impact the shelter can have on the lives of people who visit there, even if only for the three months out of a year it is currently open, John shared the story of a man who was legally blind due to thick cataracts in his eyes,who had been coming to Code Blue for a couple of years. The Bests took him to an eye doctor who proposed surgery.

“Our guest was very, very reluctant. Finally, he agreed to the surgery, and we took him for that surgery. He now has 20/20 vision…you know, that was a miracle. You know that was God at work, because this guy was extremely scared,” John said.

“It took us a couple of years to convince him to go to the eye doctor. We’ve seen the life change in him, and he is very appreciative. In fact, when we brought him home from getting his first eye done, he got out of the car and said, ‘Thank You, Jesus,'” John added.

To learn more about this ministry, call First Church at: 570-322-3572.