10/30/2026
Every year at this time, we get asked a familiar question:
"Are you ready?"
It is an understandable question. For many people, St. John’s Ministries is still thought of as the emergency winter shelter that opens its doors when temperatures drop and closes when spring arrives.
Although that may have been true twenty-one winters ago, much has changed. While serving our community during Green Bay’s coldest months remains at the unshakeable core of who we are, it is no longer the entirety of what we do. Preparation for shelter season is really a continuation of work already underway year-round across four facilities and two distinct seasons, supported by dedicated staff, volunteers, community partners, and donors.
So, are we ready for November?
Yes. Operationally, perhaps more than ever before.
Yet shelter season is not a transaction. It is an ongoing process. Our winter clothing and supply shelves are nearly bare and need to be replenished before the coldest weather arrives. We still need a few additional overnight staff and continue to rely on the commitment of our volunteers and meal teams throughout the winter months.
On November 1, our Men's Shelter and Women's Shelter will once again open their doors for the start of our Cold Weather Season.
Yet two decades of growth and experience have taught us that readiness and predictability are not the same thing. Every shelter season tells a different story and presents challenges that cannot be fully anticipated.
Three years ago, staff received a call from an eighty-seven-year-old woman seeking shelter after being discharged from a nursing facility. Two years ago, fifty-seven women arrived at our Women’s Shelter on a single night, nearly filling a building permitted for fifty-eight guests. Last March, we welcomed a historic high of 175 men and women seeking shelter on a single night.
For the last four winters since opening the Women’s Shelter to supplement our dedicated Men’s Shelter, we have provided shelter to an average of 102 people each night, then 121, then 141, and most recently 140. At the same time, the total number of individuals served across an entire shelter season has declined for two consecutive years.
Statistical anomalies like these remind us that homelessness rarely looks the way people expect.
While public discussion often focuses on what people see in parks, on sidewalks, or in other public places, those visible realities do not tell the whole story. Behind the scenes, people are finding housing, starting jobs, reconnecting with family, entering treatment, accessing medical and mental health care, stabilizing their finances, and rebuilding their lives. The work is quiet, often gradual, and rarely makes headlines.
While our operations are strong, we know there will be challenges ahead. Rising utility and maintenance costs across four aging facilities will place additional pressure on our resources. Looking beyond the winter months, expanding our case management, peer support, and social work capacity remains a priority because helping adults navigate multiple crises, access community resources, and move toward stability requires meaningful relationships and sustained support.
Yes, we are ready for winter, but our mission extends well beyond the months ahead.
That is because our ministry has never been about simply helping people make it through another winter. It is about meeting people with uncompromising dignity, helping them toward stability, and creating lasting change. It is about building a community where fewer people experience homelessness in the first place and where those who do have a clear path forward.
That is why the work continues long after this next "season" ends. It continues until the vision we share for greater Green Bay becomes reality: a community that affirms each person's dignity, offers safety and stability, and provides a path toward lasting change, where adult homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.
That vision remains in front of us. The work remains unfinished.
I have every reason to believe that when the need arises, this community will continue to do what it has always done: show up for its neighbors.
For that, and for the trust you continue to place in this ministry, we are profoundly grateful.
And because of that, while November 1 is just a few days away, St. John's Ministries will be ready for whatever comes next.
With gratitude,
Jesse Brunette
Executive Director
St. John’s Ministries
