Who We Are and What We Do
Our hours and services have been modified to ensure the safety of our community and volunteers. Currently, we are open Monday through Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We look forward to being open more hours and providing more services again when it is safe to do so. We strive provide the homeless population with basic services that most of us take for granted.
These current services include:
- Receiving Mail and postage for outgoing letters
- Using a bathroom, taking a shower or just brushing their teeth
- Washing clothes
- Using a telephone and receiving messages
- Help with employment opportunities
- Access to education help and support
- Having a place to sit, read, visit, recreate, without being hassled
- Getting out of the weather to warm up or to cool down
Where we came from:
Most homeless people are either temporarily homeless, as the result of a crisis such as loss of a job, or persistently homeless, due to chronic disabilities such as substance abuse and mental illness. The persistently homeless present our society with one of the most vexing, difficult and expensive problems to solve. Their chronic disabilities render many of them unemployable, except for occasional day labor jobs.
Observing the situations that homeless people are forced into, Tim Cooper, the former Hyde Park Mennonite pastor, gathered a group of people to address the conditions that being homelessness forces on people. The dream of the group was to open a “catholic worker” hospitality day center that offered a comfortable place to sit, rest, read, or visit while providing the basic necessities for maintaining personal dignity.
Realizing that there was no place in Boise where these services were offered, the group opened Corpus Christi House in December 2003.
Since 2003 Corpus Christi House has continued to be a place where the homeless population of Boise can come during the day for a place to stay cool in the summer or warm up in the winter. Corpus Christi House offers a place to receive the human dignity that each person deserves and find support in community.
Our Mission:
The mission of Corpus Christi House is to offer hospitality and services to those in need in the city of Boise.
We strive to:
Deliver to the homeless, poor, and disadvantaged the virtues of hospitality, friendship, and love in God’s image.
We work to:
Deliver care and compassion today, so as to grow hope for tomorrow in the lives of the less fortunate.
We encourage and hope:
Help those who are able get back on their feet by:
- Providing access to educational opportunities
- Assisting in the work search process
- Providing for daily needs
We try to:
Provide services with the intent of easing the burdens of homelessness such as:
- Mail services
- Provide access to a telephone, restrooms, and showers
- Inform our guests of services provided by other local agencies.