Group providing a real home for the holidays

When Lisa Stull heard an area homeless group had no place to stay this Christmas, she stepped into action.

As guest services director at Camp Orchard Hill, a Christian camp in Franklin Township, Stull got permission for homeless men from Volunteers in Service in Our Neighborhood, or V.I.S.I.O.N., to sleep in the camp’s cabins from Dec. 13 through Dec. 27. She had learned of the group’s need from her husband, Mark, director of the Back Mountain Food Pantry.

Now the Dallas woman is seeking help from the community to prepare meals each night, donate money and Christmas decorations, decorate and spend time with the men during the Christmas season.

“The need was huge for this Christmas season,” Stull said. “We’re not doing this as a religious event at all. There’s a need out there and we just want to meet it.”

According to Vince Kabacinski, executive director of V.I.S.I.O.N., the organization was started in 1985 when several men approached the Rev. Kenneth Carter, a former pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Wilkes-Barre, and said they had nowhere to sleep that night. The reverend secured a few sleeping bags and told the men to stay in the church.

V.I.S.I.O.N. is a non-profit organization that serves homeless men ages 18 and up in Luzerne County. The men are transported nightly to shelters, mostly churches, where they are served a meal and allowed to sleep. In the morning, the men are driven to places of employment or they participate in the organization’s day program.

Kabacinski often has difficulty finding a church to take the men during Christmas because of holiday activities at the churches and is thrilled that Camp Orchard Hill is willing to help this year.

“It’s a sad time for us because when we’re in the shelter Christmas Eve, the guys go through their wallets and their personal belongings and they’re taking out the pictures of their family,” Kabacinski said. “I just get a feeling of contentment knowing our homeless population has a roof over its head on Christmas Eve and they are together as one big family.”

So far, Stull has received commitments to assist from the Harveys Lake Women’s Club, an Alcoholics Anonymous group and several churches. She and her family have also agreed to make Christmas dinner for the men.

But she knows it will take many more people to help with the men’s stay at the camp and she hopes churches, civic organizations, high school groups and employers will step up.

“It’s an opportunity and I’m really excited about it,” Stull said. “I just need people to get excited about it with me.”

According to Kabacinski, V.I.S.I.O.N. was servicing 25 to 30 men each night until the downfall of the economy. It is now accommodating 45 to 50 men per night and Kabacinski estimates the shelter has served 220 more men between January and October 2009 as compared to January through October 2008.

“We’re seeing people that were our friends and neighbors,” Kabacinski said. “We’re seeing people in the shelters that used to come to us to help that are now looking for help.”

Kabacinski says the past few years have also been trying for V.I.S.I.O.N. because of the consolidations and closings of many area churches. However, the organization has added six new shelter sites for the first six months of 2010, including a second stay at Camp Orchard Hill.

“Having a place like Camp Orchard is just that important to us because it is a Christian camp and I can’t think of any other way for the Back Mountain community to celebrate the holiday,” Kabacinski said. “The greatest gift mom and dad can give their family is to go during those weeks and celebrate with those who have nothing.”

you can help

To assist with V.I.S.I.O.N.’s visit to Camp Orchard Hill or to make a donation to help with their stay, call the camp office at 333-4098.

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