While many spent Christmas week greeting family, planning trips and doing last-minute shopping and cooking, members of Temple Beth Shalom were busy as well — feeding and housing the homeless.

For seven years, the Arnold synagogue has helped local churches with the Winter Relief homeless program, operated by the Arundel House of Hope. While many other congregations were involved this past with events to celebrate Christmas, Temple Beth Shalom embraced the mission to take its turn hosting those in need.

For Diane Braumann, working at the shelter on Christmas week was a new experience she hopes will become a tradition.

“I love the idea that the Anne Arundel community figures out places for the homeless to go every week,” Braumann said.

Arundel House of Hope has run Winter Relief for the past 27 years. Each week from Oct. 15 to March 15, the homeless spend a week in a different shelter around the county. Many residents of the program have jobs or cars, but still need a place to stay warm.

“They’re very nice people,” site coordinator Cookie Pollock said. “They’re very warm and they’re happy to tell you their stories.”

Congregation Kol Shalom helped house and feed the homeless a few days before they moved to Temple Beth Shalom. This week, they’ll move to Asbury United Methodist Church.

As a Jewish congregation, Temple Beth Shalom members don’t usually celebrate Christmas. But they did help make the holiday special for the homeless. The shelter gave movie passes to those staying with them. Monday night, a member of the congregation drove a van-load of residents to Asbury UMC for Christmas Eve services.

Carlester “Barbershop” Allen, 62, spent his third Christmas at the shelter. Originally from Parole, Allen said he was raised at My Brother’s Keeper barbershop on West Street. Everyone knows him as “Barbershop.” Over the years, he’s watched friends find homes. He’s hoping to find a place for himself this year.

Lee Madison, 51, has been homeless on and off for about 12 years. “It’s been mostly on in that time,” he said. “Addiction has been my issue. A lot of us in here have that same issue.”

Madison is a graphic artist who can often be seen at the Starbucks on Main Street. He said he is looking to get treatment for addiction and made sure to stay clean for the Winter Relief program. Arundel House of Hope, which coordinates the program, screens every resident of the program for drugs and alcohol in order to secure a bed.

Madison said the Temple Beth Shalom volunteers and site coordinators are some of the nicest people he’s ever met.

“Thank God for something like this,” Madison said. “Where would the people go? This time of year it has tremendous value.”

There are three volunteers and at least one site coordinator at the shelter at all times. Site coordinators such as Pollock and Laura Murray end up working 11-hour shifts on some days, coming in at 6 a.m. and not leaving until the evening.

Still, Pollock wishes she could do more for the homeless of Annapolis.

At Arundel House of Hope in Glen Burnie, there are health care and learning resources for residents to utilize during the day. In Annapolis, Pollock said they have to drop the homeless off at Westfield Annapolis mall or at Church Circle for the day until the shelters can house them at night.

When hosting the homeless, members of the home congregation often make the food and help serve. One day this past week, Murray and Pollock served up a lunch of meatloaf made by another congregation member the night before.

The food is always top notch, Madison said.

“If you don’t put on weight here, something ain’t right,” he said.

Many of the homeless in the program are veterans, Pollock said, adding that some aren’t getting access to resources they need such as help for post-traumatic stress.

The program can only help about 100 people. The homeless aren’t seen on the streets of Anne Arundel as often as in cities such as Washington and Baltimore, but Pollock said there are camps and homeless communities in our wooded areas.

“They’re all over Anne Arundel County, but they’re not in the sidewalks up in your face,” she said.

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