The Men’s Winter Refuge is a seasonal homeless shelter open during the winter in Minot, North Dakota. A recent Air Force article in the Minot AFB newspaper, Northern Sentry, notes the vast majority of volunteers come from the military base:

The Minot Men’s Winter Refuge is a nonprofit men’s homeless shelter that provides food, shelter, clothing, transportation, shower facilities and basic medical care for up to 15 men per night from Nov. 1 to April 30…

To make this possible, Zimmer noted more than 80 percent of the shelter’s volunteers are from base.

“We have an amazing amount of Airmen who volunteer,” said Zimmer. “When I first started working at the shelter, there weren’t many volunteers, but after contacting the base, it’s to a point where about 25 of 30 nights within a month are covered by the base’s volunteers.”

That’s a statement of not just community service — but of community ministry.

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