Shelly transformed herself from a community volunteer to an advocate for the homeless when she witnessed the poverty, destitution, and disease of the homeless in the dingy homeless shelter where she worked as a volunteer. Appalled that such third-world levels of poverty could exist in our society, Shelly knew she would have to act upon her conscience. She then undertook the hard work to learn how to create a more proactive, expansive, and holistic center that would actually help empower the homeless to achieve healthy, happy, and independent lives of dignity. Her program, Service of the Emergency Aid Resource Center for the Homeless (SEARCH), began in a 5,000 square foot rental space in Houston Texas in 1989. Due in no small part to Shelly’s extraordinary efforts, SEARCH now occupies a four-story, 60,000 square foot permanent facility in mid-town Houston, helping over 10,000 homeless a year reclaim their lives.
Shelly and a group of like-minded volunteers did extensive research for over a year, and worked in The Daily Bread, a relief center run by nuns, in preparation for opening SEARCH. In a true grass roots effort, Shelly then recruited approximately one hundred volunteers from diverse religious, social, and ethnic backgrounds to cook, clean, and counsel at the new center. The long-term goal: develop a comprehensive support network to help empower homeless individuals to break their cycle of dependence.
Founder and now President Emeritus of SEARCH, Shelly and her board and staff have expanded a once fledgling volunteer organization to become Houston’s leading homeless service provider. SEARCH achieves its mission through a dedicated staff of 100, approximately 1500 active volunteers, and an annual budget of 7.6 million dollars. The center provides transitional and permanent housing, remedial education, job training and placement, drug and alcohol recovery programs, as well as physical and mental health care. SEARCH reaches more than 10,000 homeless individuals yearly. Fulfilling one of Shelly’s cherished goals, SEARCH opened the House of Tiny Treasures, one of Houston’s first licensed, early childhood development centers. Operating since 1992, this addition serves homeless children whose parents have enrolled in job training. In 1998, SEARCH created The Company Kitchen, an innovative catering business that serves high-quality breakfasts and lunches to corporate Houston. Designed to instruct budding chefs and to provide practical work experience, the Company Kitchen has trained and employed over fifty homeless men and women. Last year alone, it billed more than $500,000.
For over fifteen years, SEARCH has propelled thousands of homeless men and women into the work force. For Shelly, helping the homeless build productive lives has filled her own life with purpose and meaning. For all who serve at SEARCH, their work provides an experience that all the money in the world cannot buy. An unknown author sums up the true meaning of creating something of beauty and goodness for a community in need: “You create it by chipping away the unreal, the useless, and the meaningless, until, like Michelangelo’s David, you are left with a life that is breathtakingly beautiful.”
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