For many nonprofit organizations, last year was a year where we saw reduced funding while experiencing an unprecedented growth in the need for our services. Nest, like many of our nonprofit partners experienced this. We felt the squeeze last year, yet saw the incredible need within our community. As we tallied our 2025 numbers for the year, the magnitude of need and services received was glaring. Through the generosity of donors, partnerships, sponsors, and supporters, we worked tirelessly to help our unhoused neighbors get back on their feet.
Nest La Porte:
In early 2025 we received a phone call from the City of La Porte, emergency cold-weather shelter was needed for the city’s unhoused population. Nest knowing the dire circumstances that those who were unhoused would face, rose to the challenge and opened an emergency cold-weather shelter for the first four months of 2025. During that time, the shelter was utilized every single night.
Seeing this immense need and the lives that were saved as a direct result of this shelter, Nest was once again asked to partner in La Porte for the cold-weather season at the end of 2025. We opened for the season in October of this past year. This year, the shelter has also been utilized with an average of roughly 11 guests per night sleeping safely at Nest La Porte. While our average is 11, there have been many nights when we’ve neared capacity.
LaPorte 2025 Numbers:
- Bednights: Women – 668, Men -1250 (Bednight = 1 person, 1 bed, 1 night)
- Meals Served: 3838
- New Guests: Women – 33, Men – 74
- Guests Housed: 18
- Volunteer Hours Served: 1398
While these numbers might be sobering, to us these are more than numbers, these are lives saved from the brutal cold, biting wind, and stinging sleet that the winter months bring. Each of these numbers are a person whos live was positively impacted by Nest La Porte and our partners working together for a better tomorrow.
There are two figures we want to highlight, first is volunteer hours served. This figure is community service in action. Each hour was given to support a neighbor in need in La Porte. This is profound!
The second figure and the one that truly resonates with us is we were able to house 18 guests in 2025. These are 18 individuals who no longer life life out on the street, sleep rough, and are at the will of the elements of the weather. These are 18 lives that are forever changed for the better. These are 18 community members, neighbors who experienced the powerful action of community, care and support.
Nest Community Shelter – Michigan City
This past year was one for the record books in Michigan City, but this could be said of many shelters across the United States. We saw an unprecedented rise in those needing shelter in the United States. Nationally, these numbers are recorded in the annual Point-In-Time count that occurs every January. In 2024, across the United States, we experienced an unprecedented 18% increase in the number of unhoused individuals, with 771,480 people counted during the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, up from 653,104 in 2023. We believe that this number will rise again in this year’s count.
Nest Community Shelter in Michigan City operates year-round, opening nightly to provide a safe space for our unhoused neighbors in our community to have a hot meal, a safe place to sleep, and breakfast to start their day. Nest never closes, not on holidays, in inclement weather, never! We open our doors nightly in hopes that through our programming, we are equipping our guests with the necessary life skills, guidance, and reconnection to their community that sees them stably housed for the rest of their lives.
Michigan City 2025 Numbers
- Bednights: Women – 3851, Men – 9142, Children -125
- Meals Served: 26,236
- New Guests: Women: 122, Men – 224, Children – 10
- Guests Housed: 58
- Volunteer Hours: 4095
As we track our numbers throughout the year, we knew we saw a rise in those within the community seeking our services. Our end-of-year numbers solidify that fact. For those who found themselves unhoused, without a safe place to lay their head, not knowing if they’d have a meal for the day, and feeling the isolation that comes with being unhoused, we were there.
There are a few points that we’d like to highlight from Michigan City. First is the amount of children we saw come through Nest in 2025. We’ve blogged extensively in 2025 about this disturbing trend of children experiencing homelessness. Families are the largest growing segment of the unhoused population. What is further troubling about this fact is that we know that for children who experience homelessness, this sets a troubling precedent that is often repeated generationally. The impact of being unhoused as a child leaves a lasting trauma.
When we think about community, whether it’s the massive amount of volunteer hours served, neighbors, supporting neighbors, or the incredible amount of meals served out of our tiny but mighty kitchen, one number stands out: housed. In 2025, Nest Community Shelter was directly responsible for housing 58 individuals. These are 58 individuals who are no longer living on the streets; they’re safely housed. The ripple effect that housing 58 neighbors has across our community is truly immeasurable. This is our mission in action, connecting our guests back to their community with dignity, dedication, and determination. One life saved is impactful, but 58 lives saved are profound.
It Takes a Community:
The work that Nest does across La Porte County for our county residents is immense, life-changing, and makes a multi-generational impact well beyond the guests at Nest. This work is shared by many hands and is not possible to do without support. Whether you cooked a meal, volunteered at an event, served as a Flight School instructor, told a friend about us, or made a donation, your guest’s success is shared with you. This is the definition of community: neighbor helping neighbor in their hour of need.
We believe that 2026 is going to continue to stretch resources and require us to further innovate to meet the needs of our unhoused neighbors in our community. We invite you to join us in this journey, support a neighbor in need. There are unlimited ways to get involved and support this vital work. Here are just a few ways to get involved in 2026:
Volunteer: email Our Volunteer Coordinator Katie Swistek to find out more about the perfect volunteer opportunity that fits your schedule: kswistek@nestcommunityshelter.org
Sponsor: Do you own a business or are associated with an organization that can provide support? To learn more about download our 2026 sponsorship guide. You can download it here.
Donate: Whether you have shelf-stable goods, paper products, or you’d like to make a monetary donation, you can learn more about giving here.
