Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2016

membered. “Our first guests were from both Mount Pleas-

ant and from downtown Charleston. We would pick them

up from various places and bring them to the church.”

Al said that the initial number of guests was quite

low but as word spread it grew to between 25 and 30

people. The Christian Life Living Center (CLLC) pro-

vided enough room for the guests to stay comfortably and

safely and enjoy a shower and a hot meal prepared in the

fully equipped kitchen. There was a separate room for the

women to stay. The University School of the Lowcountry,

a private school located on the Hibben United campus,

uses some of this same space when in session.

“Of course, guests would have to leave in the morning

when the school hours began,” Al remarked, “but when

the bridge froze, school was out as well.”

After the first – admittedly haphazard – year of host-

ing the cold weather shelter, the Hibben United volunteers

decided to set up a committee and develop a few rules and

standard procedures. Al explained that because some of

the homeless folk who make use of the shelter are “vulner-

able adults,” such procedures are vital to protect both the

volunteers and those who stay the night.

Since then, they’ve clearly been doing something right

– the second year started with just four guests and grew

to 52 the last night, with Al himself and Polly and Dan

Graham in the co-director’s chair. During the 2014-15

Betty Riggs,

a member of

Hibben United

Methodist

Church, has

volunteered

each year in

the kitchen.

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