Hotel de Zink

Hotel de Zink continues: We are continuing to host Hotel de Zink at our church this month, extending their stay with us through April. The shelter is now opening at 5:00 p.m. each evening and our guests leave by 7:00 a.m. each morning. A LifeMoves staff person is on-site at all times. Our facility is especially well suited to host our unhoused guests because our showers and washer/dryer are available to the guests and because the size of our Social Hall facilitates social distancing. The usual April host, Highway Palo Alto Community in Christ, is now providing meals to our guests. LifeMoves is exploring a variety of possibilities for how best to operate the shelter during this challenging time.

Each year during the month of March, our church hosts Hotel de Zink, a 15-bed emergency shelter program that alternates locations through congregations in Palo Alto and surrounding neighborhoods. The shelter is hosted at a different church each month, where volunteers set up nightly beds and serve home-cooked meals for homeless adults who would otherwise be forced to sleep in cars or on the streets.

Each Year we are looking for volunteers to be Evening Greeters, to bring breakfast and lunch items and evening dinners (warm and ready to serve) for our guests. Sign up to help—it’s easy! 

Hotel de Zink is a unique and effective collaboration between LifeMoves, faith-based communities, and local volunteers. The shelter program was established in 1989 by Urban Ministries of Palo Alto, which merged with InnVision in 2002 and continued the agency’s legacy of serving homeless and low-income individuals in the Mid-Peninsula.

Clients may stay at Hotel de Zink for up to 90 days, which provides them with stability, safety, and a team of experienced staff working to help them become self-sufficient. Clients are expected to meet weekly with their case manager to work on individually-tailored goals, such as employment, housing, education, and mental health.