Ways To get Involved
Donate
We rely entirely on grants and donations to operate. With your generous contribution, we can continue to provide winter shelter to those in need. Hood River Shelter Services is a program of Gorge Ecumenical Ministries, a nonprofit 501(C)3 organization, and your donations are tax deductible. Learn More
Volunteer
In a normal season we need 140 volunteers to operate. However, due to updated safety protocols and procedures we will be operating with a skeleton crew this winter. Past volunteers will be contacted with more information, and we look forward to welcoming new volunteers when it is safe to do so. Learn More
Services
We provide a warm and safe place for those without homes to sleep uninterrupted during winter nights in the Gorge, along with a warm and healthy dinner, breakfast, access to clean clothes, medical care, and other services that our guests might need. Learn More
Our Mission
Our mission is to compassionately provide a safe place to meet the basic human needs of those without shelter during winter. We respect the dignity of all humans and aim to create a space that is both physically and emotionally safe for our guests and our volunteers.
Our History
The Hood River Shelter began to fill a critical need in the Gorge community. In 2009, a Hood River resident without a home died on the streets from exposure. The then-pastor of Hood River Valley Christian Church brought together a community of people who each declared not in my town will people be dying of hypothermia on the streets of Hood River and the Hood River Warming Shelter, now Hood River Shelter Services, was born. HRSS ran exclusively on volunteers from 2010-2017 and is now in its 10th operating season. The Shelter is open every-night during its yearly operations period from mid November through mid March.