Building Community

Happy New Year! This year our newsletters will walk through RITI’s Core Values and take time each month to highlight why each is important to who we are and what we do.

The past two years have taught us a lot about building. In 2021 RITI moved from our temporary dwelling into a space that was still under construction. We learned that building takes time, and money, and effort. Building takes communication. We learned that building is sometimes slower than planned. During that time we grew from a grassroots-style approach into three robust programs with two offering 24-7 shelter. We learned that building requires creativity, flexibility, and stretching resources. We grew from a staff of four to a staff of nearly 30 to provide around-the-clock shelter for families and recuperative care guests. We learned that building brings new possibilities, new personalities, new challenges.

Building is both work and opportunity.

Building Community is the first core value, because we cannot do this alone. We cannot do this without you – – volunteers, donors, guests, host congregations, neighbors, partners, friends and family. Together we are the “Inn Crowd,” and we are a community of diverse gifts, faiths, and skills who come together everyday to offer shelter and share together in holy hospitality.

We celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this month, and with that we hear the echoes of his words about a special community – the “beloved community,” which the King Center describes in this way:

“Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.” – The King Center

Inn Crowd – you’re building it! With each meal shared around a table, with each generous donation, with each hour given volunteering, with each story shared in this beloved community we inch a little closer to the dream.

Thank you for joining us as we build community together.