With your help, we can accomplish so much during this special year!
KARM provides the basic needs (Food, Safety, Shelter) for those ready to begin the process of recovery.
Over 400 men, women and children call KARM “home” each night. For many, this overnight stay is just the first step in finding restoration. Because, when a person enters KARM, they experience compassion from staff and volunteers who are ready to meet not only physical needs, but respond to their spiritual needs, as well.
Shelter is only one way KARM meets the needs of the homeless. As many as 1,600 hot, nutritious meals are served daily to both the homeless, and to those who have a home but are struggling to pay bills or buy food.
There are many reasons why someone may become homeless. A house burns down, poor job skills, mental illness, or an addiction that consumes. It can happen to anyone who doesn't have a “safety-net” of family or friends to fall back on when crisis hits our life. And when these times come, there are many ways that KARM responds:
- KARM serves up to 1,600 meals a day to the poor and homeless.
- Over 400 men, women and children call KARM home each night.
- 7,227 men, women and children received 139,856 nights of shelter
- KARM's Crossroads Welcome Center is pioneering a whole new way of serving the homeless during the day and created a bold model for inter-agency cooperation. Crossroads is a practical starting point where people can get off the streets, use the rest rooms, have access to computers, make phone calls and even stow their bags while they work to get off the streets. And now, instead of duplicating each other's services, secular agencies and Christian ministries from across Knoxville work together at Crossroads. The result is better care, superior follow-through, and greater success moving people out of homelessness.
- New Life Inn is Knoxville's only long-term shelter for intact, homeless families. In this depressed economy, more families are seeking shelter than ever. Before the economic downturn in the fall of 2008, a homeless family who came to KARM stayed on average of 3 months before they were secure enough to move back out on their own. Today, we expect the stays to last at least 5 months but often it takes 9 to 12 months.
KARM is the only facility of this magnitude in the Knox area. Without KARM, most if not all of the Knox area's homeless would be living in cars, on the streets or in campgrounds.