They pulled me into the office and said, “ We’ve got somewhere for you to go. I recently left my husband and me and my daughter were actually staying in a hotel and my manager at work caught wind of it. Not just housing affordability but creating communities so that people are not alone. Isolation is what Synergy Village is addressing. They’re all a function of social isolation and the fact that a lot of people are going through life very alone. It’s not even housing, it’s not education, it’s not addiction or mental illness - all those things are in play. So, we were thrilled that Synergy Village could be that place. They do need a community to live in and a group of loving, supportive friends around them. When some people leave Joshua Station, they don’t need another program. So rather than just reading about how to do something like this, or even just asking someone how to do it, they participated. It takes an understanding of what is acceptable and what’s not. It requires a lot of grace and a lot of forgiveness and clear boundaries. But it’s an art form and obviously very relational. You just get a bunch of people together and then you’ve got a community. It might be easy to assume that building a community is simple. They were also able to observe, not from a distance, but observe from within, what the process is like of building a community. So, Adele and Loren were able to learn about the challenges and struggles that people have when they are trying to survive in this economy. They’re people who have a hunger to live in community so that they can build a better life and they can help other people build a better life too. They were meeting people who have had an experience of either being homeless or very close to being homeless, and with other vulnerabilities in their life.īut these people also have some real strengths. Then Adele and her husband Loren moved into Joshua Station and became resident volunteers. She already had this beautiful idea simmering inside of her of creating Synergy Village. On the tours we discuss, “ What are people in this neighborhood wrestling with? What kind of challenges are they facing? Who lives here and what is their life like?”Īdele Funk came on one of those tours with her church and entered into that experience both with her mind but also with her heart. I have the opportunity to take a lot of groups on walking tours through different neighborhoods in the city. Jeff Johnsen Executive Director, Mile High Ministries I am so grateful for this opportunity not only to come along and serve, but to learn from the families here. And, it is a privilege and we get so much back from the people here. It has opened me up to love in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. A lot of it has been unexpected, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m also seeing that that takes time and we need to be patient for that time. I’m seeing people start to engage in the community because it’s becoming their community. It means if they’re willing, we’re willing, and we’re going to walk it together in the highs and lows. It means I have to ask some hard questions that might not be comfortable. It means actually being vulnerable on both parts as mentees and mentors to open up our lives in many ways. But it means walking through the ups and the downs, going to birthday parties, and then sometimes just having coffee and talking through some really hard life circumstances. And sometimes that means hard conversations. We’re learning what it means to just love people where they are, but also to encourage them in their goals too. Other times we’ve had the opportunity of going to some life skill classes with some of our mentees and having a little more in-depth conversation as we get to know them. Another mentor comes by, we sit on the porch and we chat. When the kids come home from school, they’ll come over and we’ll have snacks on the porch. I love sitting on the porch and when people come home, they’ll just grab a chair and we’ll visit.

So, when people pull into Synergy Village, they have to go by my front porch to get to their apartments. He put that seed in our hearts 30 years ago and then here was this opportunity. It hit me that this was our “later in life” call from the Lord to serve and to come alongside neighbors to support and encourage them in their goals to greater independence. Darin and I are just blown away at how God is a completer.

Synergy housing contact number