Housing for New Hope has established a new clinically based program to provide mental-health services and personal support to homeless people in Durham.

A Community Support Team will offer the homeless and those re-entering the homeless population from publicly funded institutions a progression to housing and improved health.

"The homeless have been suffering disproportionately from the unintended negative impacts of mental-health reform," said Terry Allebaugh, executive director of Housing for New Hope. "Those without homes have been discharged from mental-health hospitals to shelters with insufficient resources to meet their needs. In addition, those who have been living unsheltered for many years and suffering from mental illness have become resistant to treatment and offers of help. They need a specialized team trained in outreach and engagement practices."

In addition to these gaps in services, Durham has seen an increase in the number of homeless people over the past year.

The annual Point-in-Time count conducted Jan. 30-31 by the Council to End Homelessness in Durham found that the number of homeless people rose from 539 in 2007 to 590 in 2008, a 9 percent increase.

The same count placed the number of homeless people with mental illness at 105, up from 86 the year before. The number with substance abuse disorders was 386, up from 325 in 2007.

A total of 247, or 42 percent of the homeless population, had been released from institutions, including jails, prisons, mental-health hospitals, treatment centers or hospitals.

Housing for New Hope receives significant support from a number of community partners to begin offering this service. Among supporters are The Durham Center, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, the Ribbon of Hope program and the State of North Carolina Mental Health Trust Fund.

UMC pastor to plant new S. Durham church

The N.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church has appointed a pastor to start a new church to serve southern Durham County and the Research Triangle Park area.

The Rev. Ken McLean, 50, and his wife, the Rev. Martha McLean, 48, moved to the Durham area this week. They came from Roxboro where he was pastor of Oak Grove United Methodist. He will be organizing the new church, which does not have a name as of yet.

Martha McLean, meanwhile, is the new pastor at Asbury United Methodist, 806 Clarendon St. She succeeds the Rev. Leonard Doucette, who retires this month.

Both the McLeans are graduates of Duke Divinity School. They have two children, John, 17, and Anne, 16, both of whom attend the N.C. School of Science and Math.

Ken McLean said the N.C. Conference took note of the growth boom in the area where Durham and Wake counties meet and decided that a Methodist presence in that area is important.

"The church will serve folks to the south and west of Research Triangle Park," he said.

Although this will be his first church launching, McLean says he has been starting things all his life.

"I had a design, construction and real estate company in the Blowing Rock area for 17 years," he said. "We shut down a successful business to go to divinity school." He graduated in 2002 and his wife in 2008. Her previous work experience was as the district director for U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina's 7th Congressional District.

Launching a new church, Ken McLean said, begins with a prayer team and meeting people. Anyone interested in the new church startup can get in touch with Ken McLean at (919) 880-4989.

Buildings for the birds, and Bible school, too

Bible school children at St. Paul's Lutheran Church made 65 birdhouses on Monday.

These are not little thrown-together boxes, but the real thing made from cedar, said Susan Esposito, church administrator. As in past years, St. Paul's again has gone all out for Bible school with a Jerusalem marketplace theme.

While children from the church and the West Cornwallis Road-Chapel Hill Street neighborhoods were hammering together birdhouses, construction workers were pouring a concrete slab for an addition to the church building.

Esposito said the addition, expected to be finished by November, will include a large fellowship hall, kitchen and stage, an atrium, an enlarged office area and more classrooms. Renovation of the sanctuary will begin in January.

The choir loft area will be expanded, and a large stained-glass window will be added. The renovation is expected to be completed by March or April of 2009.

"June has been a busy month," she said. "So far, we have completed the preparation work for the concrete base for the atrium and fellowship hall space and it was poured on Monday. Progress will continue with steel going up and work being done on the elevator tower."

The addition and renovation were fueled by growth in both membership and ministries, Esposito said. The total cost of the project is $3.5 million.

St. Paul's at 1200 Cornwallis Road has a membership of about 900 and holds three worship services on weekends, 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sundays during the summer.

Group to pray for afflicted area of city

Bulls Eye Prayer will be held today at the corner of East Main Street and Alston Avenue from 5 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

These events, sponsored by the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, are held in different neighborhoods every other Saturday and are for the purpose of bringing peace and healing into areas suffering from violent injuries and death. The Bulls Eye is the area of the city where most violent crimes occur.

Duke Memorial member honored at conference

Ran Few, a lifelong member of Duke Memorial United Methodist on West Chapel Hill Street, was recognized at the recent meeting of the N.C. Conference of the church as the recipient of the Saints of God Stewardship Award. This award is given on a rotating basis to either a member of the Board of the Methodist Foundation, to a pastor, to a lay person or to a local church.

This year the Foundation nominated Few in recognition of his 26 consecutive years as a member of its board.

The award was created in 1994 by Gordon Smith III of Raleigh as a permanent endowment held in trust with the Foundation in memory of his mother, Jean Poe Smith.