Last Updated Nov 19th, 2019 at 1:59 pm

With temperatures already dropping below freezing in Anchorage, about 50 women who seek overnight refuge each night at Downtown Hope Center can be assured they’ll have a warm, safe place to sleep this winter.

The women who stay in our center’s overnight shelter—a one-room common area with beds as close as three feet away from each other—were in danger of losing this vital sanctuary, but in August, a court order turned back the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission’s attempt to force the center to allow males who identify as females to sleep right next to women. Earlier this week, Anchorage officials agreed to drop the matter entirely. It’s a major victory for women who have known fear, trauma, and abuse before finding us.

“Hope restored. Hearts renewed. Lives transformed.” It’s not just our tagline; it’s the core and compass for how the Hope Center serves the homeless and working poor in our community of Anchorage. We are a faith-based, privately funded non-profit offering food, clothing, hot showers, job and life skills training, and shelter for the vulnerable in our city.

There’s rarely a “normal” day here at the Downtown Hope Center, but even a first-time visitor will recognize that every bit of our center has a purpose. With the help of over 160 volunteers every week, we serve up to 600 cups of soup a day, and we work very hard to make this a place of safety and rest in a harsh world.

By day, all of our services are open to the public, to both men and women, but our overnight shelter houses only women. As the lone women’s-only shelter in our city, the Hope Center is a haven and a home—a chance to escape a pimp’s manipulation, a trafficker’s abuse, a drug dealer’s pursuit, or a boyfriend’s abuse. For others, it becomes a launching ground for a safe, stable life as an independent and thriving citizen. That’s why we run a drug- and alcohol-free shelter and require our visitors to leave their weapons outside our doors.

There is so much life and activity here, but 7 p.m. is one of my favorite times. The kitchen is quiet. The mattresses come out and fill the room that, just a few hours earlier, hosted lunch. At night, dozens of women find shelter from the harsh realities of life on the street.

I don’t think I’ve met a single woman who has stayed overnight at our shelter who has not been a victim of rape or assault by a man. Many don’t even report when they’ve been raped. The violence is so common and the situation feels so hopeless.

These women need a safe place to stay, but the commission was fighting to take that place away—to force us to open our overnight shelter to males who identify as female. It all started back in January 2018. It was a normal Alaskan evening—cold and dark. The women were eating their evening meal and preparing to set their mats out for the night.

One of my staff members called me down to talk with a guest—a male dressed in a pink nightgown, bleeding, agitated, and obviously drunk. It was clear he needed medical care. I later learned that he’d just been at another shelter, four blocks away—where he had been involved in a fight.

I urged him to get medical care and paid for his cab ride to the hospital. He gave me a hug, called me Mother Teresa, and climbed into the taxi. I walked back inside, where the roomful of women had been watching our interaction. Several of them stated they would have left the safety of the shelter that night rather than sleep with a man in the shelter. Many of the women knew this particular man as a violent person from past experiences in another shelter. One woman later told me she would rather sleep in the woods than side-by-side with a man. I assured her that I would never let that happen at the Hope Center.

In the year and a half since this encounter, we’ve happily served this man food, showers, and clothing—and still will, regardless of whether he identifies as a woman. But the commission’s actions threatened our ability to continue to provide safe, overnight housing for women in need.

We are grateful for this recent court win, because it means that we can continue to be a safe place for women. While our case is finally resolved, our work is far from over. Because today’s another day with more meals to be served, more students to teach, and more lives to be touched with the love of Jesus.

In short, more opportunities for hope, renewal, and transformation.