Dan Morand

Beth-Emmanuel Church at 430 Grey Street

 

So it’s – ah – Dan Morand and I am the senior pastor of Beth-Emmanuel Church and director of the Urban Haven Project and we’re located at 430 Grey Street. 

The Urban Haven Project has been here for about four years in this community of SoHo. It’s a very generationally marginalized area and we came here just to bring dignity and hope to the community and hope to the marginalized, the homeless, and near homeless. 

So we decided to do this Intentional Journey for Men Program, kind of a journey out of homelessness into a life of purpose. This whole program idea is not just being another shelter. The guys would come to us that have a desire to either look for work, get back to school, or get addiction help. We’re okay if they’re using. We don’t – we’re not really worried if they have a criminal record. We just wanna be present for the situation that they’re in. 

We knew there was guys–we talk to them all the time and they just seem trapped. They wanna get out, but they just don’t have the ability to get out. Like they don’t know how to do it. So it’s like hey, you know what just let us partner with you, let us steer you in the right directions, give you the right tools and let’s see where we can go with this. 

I’ve worked with men with addictions or guys in the prison system, so I know that very well. And I also know that I’ve never really met a guy that’s a write off. I mean, they just need to have the right people come around them. I don’t expect them to be middle class. Y’know, we’re not here to save the world. We’re just here to make people’s lives a little better and have them making better choices. 

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