ESCANABA — As November has nearly arrived, the time has come for the return of Hope at the Inn (HATI) — the area’s faith-based rotating emergency homeless shelter. Program Coordinator Lisa Myers said the program is gearing up for the start of its seventh season this weekend.

“We open on Sunday, Nov. 3 this year,” she said.

HATI’s 2019-20 season will begin at Christ the King Lutheran Church, located on 1230 N. 18th St. in Escanaba.

Since it began in 2013, HATI has offered support to homeless people in Delta County during the late fall, winter and early spring months. A total of 13 host churches and six support churches are involved with the program.

“They help staff all these other shifts at all these other churches,” Myers said of churches in the latter group.

As of Wednesday, Myers said she and other people involved with HATI were busy procuring supplies for the program. These efforts included buying some new supplies and retrieving other supplies that were used in previous years from a storage unit west of Escanaba.

According to Myers, some of the supplies being bought for HATI this year — including breathalyzer tubes and air mattresses — are being funded by a $1,500 Community Foundation for Delta County grant.

“We received word that we would get the grant in May,” she said.

The grant is also supporting the purchase of gift cards for local fast food restaurants, which HATI’s guests will use to buy lunch on days when local soup kitchens are not open.

Myers said HATI’s maximum number of guests per night is supposed to be 15. However, she has heard from Salvation Army representatives that demand could exceed this.

The best way for people in the community to support HATI is by volunteering to work shifts for the program, Myers said.

“We basically need two volunteers staffing every shift,” she said.

The program has three shifts per night and operates seven days a week. Between volunteers working shifts and others who help by providing meals, assisting with laundry and moving equipment from church to church, about 60 volunteers are involved with HATI each week.

Volunteers who are planning to work shifts for HATI are asked to first go through a training session. The next training session for the

program is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Wellspring Community Church, located in the Delta Plaza Mall.

Monetary donations to HATI are also appreciated, Myers said.

“It would be made out to ‘Salvation Army’ … but clearly marked for Hope at the Inn,” she said of these donations.

Myers said she is excited for the return of HATI. She compared the feeling of getting ready for the program to the feeling of preparing for houseguests to arrive.

“There’s so much to get ready, but it’s fun,” she said.

For more information on HATI, call the Salvation Army at 906-786-0590, call Myers at 906-420-1311 or visit the program’s website at www.hopeattheinn.org.