We practice Radical Hospitality:

There is always a seat at our table; there is enough for everyone.

To those who have more than they need, we invite partnership and contribution.

For those who are turned away elsewhere, our doors are wide and welcoming. In fact, our doors are open to all of our neighbors.

On those who live in the shadows of solitude, we shower the sunlight of community. And to you, we extend an invitation to join us at our tables and help turn on the light.

Our Unique Model

Trauma Aware

One of the hallmarks of the “BSM Way” is our implementation of what the social sciences term trauma aware. This approach means that we strive to base our interactions with our guests and the services we provide to them on an understanding of the vulnerabilities that survivors of trauma (such as homelessness, domestic violence, and sexual abuse to name just a few) experience. We can then begin to address their needs in a way that does not exacerbate their trauma, but rather is supportive, free of anxiety, and avoids whenever possible the likelihood of re-traumatization.

Holistic Approach

One of the many benefits of our approach to being of service is that each week hundreds of people take us up on our offer of hospitality. In response to this the staff at BSM and our partners have developed a number of program offerings that are designed to address some of the critical needs that many of our guests have. The practice of radical hospitality means that we invite the whole person into our space, wounds and all.

Enough

When we first began, we thought the answer to scarcity was abundance. Instead what we found through our our trauma-informed perspective is that the antidote to scarcity and material insecurity is a consistent message to our guests that there is enough. We do this by ensuring that there is always enough for everyone – enough food for each guest at lunch services to enjoy a delicious meal, enough items in our Community Hygiene inventory to guarantee that each guest will receive what they requested, enough time for each subscriber to retrieve their mail. The message that is implicit throughout the provision of social services is consistent with the central values of BSM – that true hospitality means an experience of abundance wherever, and whenever, that is possible. And sometimes abundance is just enough.