Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Samaritan House?
- What does Samaritan House do?
- How is Samaritan House funded?
- What is Samaritan House’s goal?
- Is Samaritan House’s successful?
- What can the public do to help?
- What about contributions?
- What is the Samaritan House mailing address?
- What is your budget?
- How many paid staff members do you have?
- How many people volunteer with your agency?
- How many people can you serve?
- Who should we contact for volunteering?
- Do you house only men?
- Can people visit Samaritan House?
Q. What is Samaritan House?
A. Samaritan House Mission is a recuperative care place for homeless people in need of short term care following a hospital oremergency room stay. Samaritan House emphasizes the Gospel values of love, dignity, respect and inclusion. We are a non-denominational ministry.
Q. What does Samaritan House do?
A. Samaritan House provides short term for homeless men and women in a home like setting. We provide our guests a clean bed, bath facilities, 3 daily meals and transportation to-and-from follow-up appointments. We also work with guest to get additional assistance through local social service agencies.
Q. How is Samaritan House funded?
A. Samaritan House is a not-for-profit (a 501c3), grass-roots agency. We take no funding from local or federal agencies, and are not affiliated with a specific religion or hospital.
Q. What is Samaritan House’s goal?
A. The goal of Samaritan House is to prevent ‘a revolving door’ between the streets and the hospitals when a homeless person needs to recuperate from an illness or injury. As we all know, hospitals cannot accommodate people for long periods of time, and for a homeless person, they are often released to the streets because they have nowhere else to go. In many examples, when the homeless person can’t get well or heal properly, they must repeat their visit to the hospital over and over again. This is not only an issue for the patient, but for the hospital and their rising costs.
Q. Is Samaritan House’s successful?
A. Because Samaritan House can provide a place where a homeless person can recuperate, get the rest they need to rebuild their strength, and get back on their feet, only eight percent of our guests return to the hospital after leaving Samaritan House. And because our staff is trained to help them get additional services, only 16 percent actually return to the streets or the shelters when they leave.
Q. What can the public do to help?
A. We have many opportunities for individual and groups of volunteers:
- visit the house, and provide fellowship to our guests
- help with meals or house work
- decorate the inside and outside house for holidays
- provide everyday items such as paper products and cleaning items
- spruce up the yard
- address and stuff envelopes
Q. What about contributions?
A. We are happy to receive monetary and house-hold contributions!
- Please mail or drop-off contributions to Samaritan House
- Soon, our website will be able to accept contributions online and by credit card.
- We are happy to receive contributions in honor of, or in memory of, family or friends, and at special times of the year such as Mother’s Day or Thanksgiving, and can acknowledge those rememberances.
- Please ask your church to remember Samaritan House with a grant in an annual budget. We would be happy to sit down with your Outreach group and find just the right collaboration for your congregation.
- Please see our ‘Wish List’ on this website for a list of house-hold items in which we are always in need.
Q. What is the Samaritan House mailing address?
A. Samaritan House,
3424 Park Road,
Charlotte, NC 28209
Q. What is your budget?
A. About $200,000 per year, of which our operating cost 88%. This means a full 88% goes directly into providing for our guests, and we are learning ways to lower the operating expenses annually.
The average hospital stay is over $1800 per night, while Samaritan House can house a guest, with meals for about $100 per night. That is 4% of the cost of a night at the hospital for an uninsured person whose cost would normally be charged to the local government.
Q. How many paid staff members are employed?
A. We pay 3 full time employees, our Executive Director, Kitchen Manager, Overnight and Weekend Manager; and we have 1 part-time employee, our Volunteer Coordinator. The rest of our needs are filled with volunteers.
Q. How many people volunteer with your agency?
A. Last year we recorded the names of over 220 different volunteers, including our Board of Directors.
Q. How many people can you serve?
A. We can serve 8 people at any one time. In 2008, we housed 130 different guests, and since we opened our doors in 2005, we have tended to over 450 people.
Q. Who should we contact for volunteering?
A. Please call Brad Goforth at bgoforth@thesamaritanhouse.org.
Q. Do you house only men?
A. No, we serve both women and men. Before anyone checks in, we perform a background check on each guest to ensure the safety of our other guests, our staff and our volunteers.
Q. Can people visit Samaritan House?
A. We welcome visitors to tour the house any day of the week between 10:00am and 5:00pm. We located in the old Ivey Home, at 3424 Park Road, on the front grounds of the YWCA.
If you have additional questions, or wish to speak with someone…
Please call Samaritan House at 704-527-1130 and ask for our Executive Director, Brad Goforth.