La Porte County is home to many communities, stories, and, occasionally, residents who, at some point, find themselves with nowhere to turn. The need for shelter, safety, and someone willing to say you still belong here appears in every corner of this county. This is why Nest began and continues to evolve to meet the needs in our communities.
In Michigan City, Nest Community Shelter operates year-round from its permanent location in the former Sacred Heart Church on the city’s west side, a building that once served as a place of refuge and community, and still does. Within those walls, men, women, and women with children find more than just shelter. They find stability. A hot dinner at the end of a tough day. Breakfast before they head back into the world. A warm, safe bed. And perhaps most importantly, volunteers, case managers, and referral partners, who are genuinely invested in what comes next for them.
In La Porte, Nest La Porte opens its doors each evening from October through April 15th, when dropping temperatures make survival on the streets a matter of life and death. Each night, guests are welcomed in from the elements and given the same things Michigan City guests receive: warmth, a meal, a bed, and the steady presence of a community that has not given up on them. When the season ends, countless lives have been touched. Some have been saved outright.
Together, these two shelters form something this entire region has never had before and still cannot find anywhere else.
Nest is the only emergency shelter in Region 1 that opens its doors to men, women, and women with children. All of them. Under one roof. In a county where need stretches across many communities and resources are never quite enough, that distinction is not small. It means that a mother with nowhere to go does not have to choose between her safety and staying together with her children. It means a man in crisis has a place to land. It means that when any resident of La Porte County hits their lowest point, there is a door that will open for them.
The work varies depending on the night, the season, and who is sitting across the table. But the mission remains the same. Both shelters offer a hot dinner and breakfast. Both provide a warm, safe bed. Both connect guests to caring volunteers and referral partners working to set them up for success, not just tonight but long after they walk out the door. Most importantly, both shelters uphold Nest’s mission to reconnect our guests to their community, because the goal has never been simply to get someone through the night. The goal is reconnection. To stability. To opportunity. To the community that was always theirs to belong to.
That is what Nest does in Michigan City. That is what Nest does in La Porte. And together, that is what makes this work matter as much as it does for every corner of this county. Two shelters. One mission. And a belief that every person in La Porte County deserves the chance to find their way back.
