The Forest Avenue Family Shelter is a supply line of Great Commission Ministries, USA (GCM-USA) and seeks to fulfill the Great Commission through meeting the spiritual and physical needs of Kansas City's homeless through soup, soap, and salvation.

Forest Avenue Family Shelter houses homeless women and women with children.   

The shelter's goal is to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the poor and homeless women. Services include shelter, meals, life skills classes, and case management. Spiritual strengthening is done through a daily devotional,  and voluntary bible study and descipleship training.   This is a wonderful opportunity for individuals or groups to get involved  in ministry.If you would like to get involved in helping us as a ministry ~ we have something for almost everyone.   To get involved, check out our GET INVOLVED page.

Our ministry provides many programs that offer a hand up to our guests, including, but not limited to an initial  first response 30 day stay, a 90 day stay and a multi-phase phase up program called TrueLife Change. TrueLife Change offers long term transitional and assistive housing. Regardless of our guests' length of stay they have a case manager that works with them to set simple, realistic goals and work on self motivation. 

TrueLife Change  offers long term shelter for women seeking a college degree at an accredited.   Students go through an assessment with a case manager to determine their eligibility.  If they are determined to be eligible, the guest must stay enrolled as a full-time student, maintain a 2.0 or better grade point average, and produce copies of their mid-term and final grades.

The shelter also offers a Pay-to-Stay program.  Women participating in this program have completed a 90 day stay, have been compliant with program requirements, and are either on a housing wait list or (at no fault of their own) are unable to secure permanent housing.  The fee is minimal and the stay is typically 6 months.  These guests regularly meet with a case manager and continue to meet goals.

Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"  The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  Matthew 25:37-40 NIV
 
All they asked was that we should remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.  Galatians 2:10 NIV