Stronger Together: The Networks That Make Home Possible

Good Shepherd Center’s mission is simple to say but complex to carry out: To feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and foster transition to housing. Each of these commitments demands more than one organization can provide alone. They require networks—woven from volunteers, community partners, businesses, congregations, and government—that together form the fabric of stability for thousands of our neighbors. 

Feeding the Hungry: A Web of Support 

At the heart of Good Shepherd is our Soup Kitchen. Each morning begins with breakfast for the 100 guests in our Night Shelter, and every afternoon brings a hot, nourishing lunch open to the wider community. On our busiest days, nearly 500 meals are served. In a single year, that adds up to more than 127,000 meals for neighbors in crisis. 

But the kitchen is only the beginning. Through our Second Helpings food rescue program, Good Shepherd salvages more than one million pounds of food each year from local grocery stores, restaurants, and community partners. Some of these connections are made possible through relationships supported by the Food Bank, which helps link agencies like ours with grocery store partners. Volunteers help sort, pack, and deliver that food, which supports not only our own programs but also 14 food pantries across the tri-county region. 

This system creates a ripple effect: families keep food on the table, children go to school nourished, and seniors can stretch fixed incomes further. Even food scraps find a purpose, supporting a bird rescue or livestock at a local farm. The result is a community-wide approach where no resource is wasted, and every bit of nourishment strengthens our neighbors. 

Sheltering the Homeless: Networks of Care 

When a guest arrives at our Day or Night Shelter, they find more than a bed or a shower. They find connection—to medical providers who treat wounds or chronic illness, resources to mental health professionals who help manage trauma, pathways to resources like the DMV or Social Security, where staff provide daily transportation. 

These partnerships ensure that someone entering shelter is not stuck in crisis, but is steadily connected to the resources that rebuild lives. Guests with jobs but no housing can check in late after a shift. Those with physical or mental health challenges are never screened out. Translation services and wheelchair accessibility mean language and mobility are not barriers. Every part of the shelter’s operation depends on networks that make inclusion possible.  

Fostering Transition to Housing: Networks That Make Home Possible 

At Good Shepherd, housing isn’t an afterthought—it’s the solution. Each year, through a combination of Rapid Rehousing and Permanent Supportive Housing, more than 200 adults and children move from homelessness into stable housing in the community, and another 48 individuals, chronically homeless and with significant disabilities, are provided housing plus supportive services in Good Shepherd developments.  

Rapid Rehousing isn’t just a program providing financial assistance and housing placement—it’s a philosophy that individuals and families should be helped to leave the shelter and return to housing and stability as soon as they can be assisted in doing so. It’s the essential first step on the path home. 

For those with the greatest barriers—homelessness marked by significant disabilities, chronic illness, or long histories in crisis—short-term support isn’t enough. That’s where Permanent Supportive Housing—the combination of a rental unit costing just 30% of one’s income and onsite supportive services—becomes central to our mission. 

Good Shepherd’s leadership in Permanent Supportive Housing traces back to the Sgt. Eugene Ashley Center, named for Wilmington’s own Medal of Honor recipient. Opened in 2001, the Ashley Center provides homeless Veterans with short-term Bridge Housing until they can transition to permanent housing in the community. It is also where we first piloted the Best Practice intervention of Permanent Supportive Housing, with eight units for chronically homeless men with significant disabilities. These early efforts gave us critical insight: that pairing safe, affordable housing with case management, healthcare navigation, and the steady presence of Good Shepherd’s housing team could change lives in lasting ways. 

That blueprint has grown. It shaped SECU Lakeside Reserve’s 40 Permanent Supportive Housing units for chronically homeless adults with disabilities, informed the design of SECU The Sparrow, which will add 32 new such units, and laid the foundation for what will soon be the expanded Martin Street Campus, doubling family shelter capacity while adding more supportive housing. 

And it works. Over 90% of residents remain housed year after year—even among our most vulnerable neighbors. 

Behind every placement is a network: landlords who partner with us, healthcare providers delivering care in homes, case managers building trust day in and day out, corporate sponsors, donors, and volunteers standing beside residents past move-in day. Housing is the end goal, but these networks are what make it stick. 

Together, Rapid Rehousing and Permanent Supportive Housing aren’t just Good Shepherd programs—they’re a model sustained by community, and transforming how Cape Fear approaches housing and stability. 

Building a Thriving Cape Fear Region 

What began as a modest soup kitchen more than 40 years ago has become a community-wide movement. Networks of support have turned Good Shepherd from a single nonprofit into a hub where thousands of lives intersect each year—whether through a rescued meal, a safe bed, or the keys to a new home. 

The lesson is clear: it takes all of us. Ending homelessness is not the work of one organization, one church, one agency, or one funder. It is the work of an entire community that believes no neighbor should face hunger or homelessness alone. That community includes businesses like Duke Energy, Piedmont Gas, and MegaCorp, who lead by example through sponsorships, employee volunteer days, and investments in housing initiatives. Their leadership, alongside the generosity of faith communities, civic groups, and individual donors, demonstrates the collective power it takes to make real change. 

And with these networks in place, we are not only feeding, sheltering, and housing. We are building a Cape Fear region that is healthier, stronger, and more compassionate—where every neighbor has a chance to belong, and everyone has a place to call home. 

How You Can Make a Difference 

Ending homelessness takes all of us. Here’s how you can help: 

Learn
• Visit: endhomelessness.org for national data and solutions
• Explore: goodshepherdwilmington.org to see our programs in action 

Spread Awareness & Advocate
• Share accurate information about homelessness and housing solutions
• Support policies that expand affordable housing resources in our community 

Volunteer
• Serve a meal, help with a food drive, or lend a hand behind the scenes
• Join your company, congregation, or civic group in a service project at Good Shepherd 

Donate
• Financial contributions sustain our housing, shelter, and food programs
• In-kind donations—food, hygiene supplies, clothing—help meet daily needs 

Together, we can build a community where no neighbor faces hunger or homelessness alone—and where every person has the chance to belong, to contribute, and to call a place home. 

Thank you for standing with us.

Katrina Knight, MSW
Executive Director, Good Shepherd Center