St. John’s Ministries closes emergency shelter season amidst remaining need for shelter
By Jeff Kurowski | For On Mission
GREEN BAY, WI — Rooted in support from the Diocese of Green Bay, St. John’s Ministries began more than 20 years ago as a volunteer-operated, six-month emergency shelter. It’s grown into year-round care services for those experiencing homelessness or housing instability in the greater Green Bay community.
The 2025-26 emergency shelter season at the men’s shelter and women’s shelter of St. John’s Ministries closed at the end of April. The need to provide shelter and care remains high. One evening in late March, the two emergency shelters served 175 guests combined, the most in a single night in the organization’s history. The emergency shelters averaged 141 guests nightly, matching the record numbers from 2024-2025, said Jesse Brunette, executive director of St. John’s Ministries.
Engaging the community in many ways is important to best serve those in need, said Lydia Davison, mission integration coordinator at St. John’s Ministries, so she seeks to build connections.
“My focus is advocacy, awareness, education and building relationships with our faith partners,” she said. “I’ve been working to be in touch with churches, trying to get in front of and connect with congregations from different churches that have supported us. A lot of times, we see that they’ve supported us for a while, but we haven’t gone and spoken there. Maybe people don’t understand the extent of all the things we do.”
There are many ways to engage with area Catholic parishes, Davison added. A good first step is to update the records to identify the right person or people in the parish to contact.
“I’m happy to come and speak. We can host groups — a youth group, men’s or women’s group — here,” she said. “We’ve done poverty simulations with youth groups and tours. I’m really pressing the education piece around homelessness in general and our friends experiencing homelessness. I think that if we can continue to create a community of empathy, we can really move the needle.”
Growing the number of volunteers from area parishes is a goal of engagement efforts. Providing and serving meals, donating items from the monthly wish list, and assisting with cleaning projects are ways people in the parishes can help, Davison said.
“In summer, we do a lot of big projects in the shelter, cleaning the windows, things like deep cleaning the floors, painting rooms,” she said. “Those are good opportunities for anyone, but especially for young people looking to serve. We appreciate prayers as well. I want to start a prayer team.”
More people are needed for the ministry team for the 2026-27 emergency shelter season.
Brunette said that St. John’s Ministries would like two ministry team members each night.
“Those are individuals who come during shelter nights, come during the meal, pray with people if they need it,” Davison said. “They get to know the people and be that faithful presence if they want to talk. They build those relationships, which makes people more open to faith conversations. We’re working to get ministry teams at both shelters, if possible.”
Brunette said that among his goals is to create a pastoral counselor position.
“It will be a member of the staff to oversee the spiritual health of the organization,” he said.
“We’re mindful of the different Christian faiths. The counselor, which some people may call a chaplain, would oversee the spiritual growth and direction, and can be someone who is intentional in drawing in caring resources from the faith community.”
Volunteers have carved out their own outreach as well. Davison points to cribbage games at the men’s shelter.
“It started because someone liked to play cribbage and realized that some of the guys did too,” she said. “Next thing you know, we have cribbage tournaments, and people come once a week to play cribbage and build relationships. If I’m playing cribbage with you today and later you have an issue about something at the shelter, I can come over and say, ‘What’s going on?’ because we have a rapport. I know you a little bit, and you may be willing to share more.”
St. John’s Ministries has expanded its overnight women’s shelter services with a new pilot program. The Women’s Stability Shelter will be open from May through October. Brunette said it focuses on serving four groups of women: the chronically homeless, the vulnerable, women with housing plans but who cannot move in yet, and employed women.
The Stability Shelter can accommodate 25 to 30 guests. St. John’s Ministries served around 18 guests per night in the first couple of weeks in May. Safe sleep is offered at the men’s shelter.
Other services include daytime resources at the Micah Center for men and women and at Wellspring for women only, drop-in care on Tuesdays and Fridays, street outreach, and an aftercare program providing in-home support when individuals transition out of homelessness.
Brunette said the influence of the Catholic community continues to be ingrained in St. John’s Ministries, which became an independent community agency in 2019.
“The Catholic Church has always shown up for us,” he said. “As we grow and the needs continue, I want to make sure the Catholic Church and community always have a place here. This is a reflection of Catholic social teaching and the values.”
Davison invites parishes to reach out to her to speak to groups, for shelter tours, volunteer opportunities and more.
“We have something for everyone,” she said. “We couldn’t do what we do without volunteers and prayers, so I want to connect.”
When speaking to a group, she invites tough questions about those experiencing homelessness.
“That’s one of my favorite things,” she said. “Someone asks a question that may seem harsh, but they seriously have a heart to understand. You can provide them an answer and watch the light go on. They say to themselves, ‘I hadn’t really thought of it that way.’ Their perspective changes. Maybe it encourages them to help.”
To contact Davison, call (920) 617-8711 or email [email protected].