When Water Street’s Access Center opens at 8 a.m., there are already people waiting outside our doors on South Prince Street. 

Some mornings, it may only be one or two. Other mornings, as many as eight people or ten are gathered on the porch, waiting for the doors to open—and waiting to find out if there is a bed available for them that day. Some are experiencing homelessness for the first time. Others have been here before. 

For Access Center Manager Cheryl and her team, this is how many days begin: welcoming people inside, offering a cup of coffee or a bottle of water and finding out how they can help. 

Sometimes, they have a bed to offer. Nearly every day, they also have to tell someone they don’t. After nine years at Water Street, Cheryl has had that conversation thousands of times. “It doesn’t get any easier,” she says. 

When there isn’t space, Cheryl and her team do what they can. “If we can’t offer them shelter, we can offer them something,” Cheryl says. 

For her, much of the job comes down to hospitality— learning people’s names, listening to what is happening in their lives and treating each person like a person. And even when the help she can offer feels small, Cheryl believes it matters. “I feel like I can make a difference,” she says. “Even if it’s not huge… I still feel like in some way I can make a difference.” 

Some days and some conversations are heavier than others. That’s when the Access Center and Social Services teams lean on each other. “We are just really here to support each other,” Cheryl says. If someone is struggling, another person is there with encouragement, a hug or a prayer. 

And on the days when Cheryl goes home carrying the weight of a hard day, she holds onto what God has shown her over the years. “I know that God has proved faithful time and time and time again in the past,” she says. 

So she keeps showing up. 

Maybe tomorrow there will be a bed available. Maybe someone will walk through the doors with good news. Whatever comes, Cheryl has seen God’s faithfulness too many times to give up. “We’ll look for God to show up again tomorrow,” she says.