Local Organization Assists Homeless in the Area
Writer / Angela Cornell
Photography Provided
Oftentimes, excellent things start small. Disney as we know it today started with a sketch of a mouse in a train car. Amazon began as an online bookstore in a garage. Fellowship Missions in Warsaw started as one couples way to reach out to the homeless in their area. However, through the last 10 years the ministry has grown to impact hundreds of men, women and children.
Eric and Tammy Lane were staff members at Warsaw Community Church when they decided to do something about the homelessness they saw in their area.
They started this back in 2010, says Brooke Lane, Eric and Tammys daughter as well as the homeless shelter director. They were housing people from January 1 to March 1 in their old offices. Then, March 1 came around and my mom and [Eric] said, Just because winter is over, that doesnt mean theyre not homeless anymore.
At the time there were five men sheltering with the church. Eric and Tammy decided to go the extra mile. They found a rental house for those men where they could be safe and have a roof over their heads. It didnt take long for the news to spread about this shelter that helped men. 
People started coming and then it just started growing from there, Lane explains. My dad quit his job at the church to work full time on that.
It didnt take long for Tammy to follow in his footsteps.
Throughout 2010, the Lanes ministered to the men who knocked on their door. In November, a young lady was dropped off on her 18th birthday. That inspired the Lanes to begin looking into obtaining another rental house for women. After two months they worked out a deal with the Heartline Pregnancy Center and purchased their old building. Like the mens shelter, the womens shelter quickly grew.
Between the two houses, the two formed Fellowship Missions.
I had my 11th birthday party at the guys house, Lane says. It became family and like second nature. This is what God has given us.
Since then the ministry has grown, with more coming in all the time. In due time, Lane was influenced by her parents love for the ministry.
[God] has given me a passion for it – to be in relationship with people, to serve people, to sit with people, and watch their lives transform and see the testimony from what God does, Lane says.
When someone new comes through the doors of Fellowship Missions, the shelter staff has a friendly conversation and interviews the newcomer.
We try to sit and talk to them during that intake, Lane says. We try to get to know them. We give them about a two-week emergency stay.
During those two weeks, the Fellowship Missions staff works with the newcomer to devise a plan going forward.
We have programming, but we want to make sure that its individualized to that person so that we can minister to them where theyre at, Lane says. There are some people who can get jobs right off the bat and others cant. We try to figure out, What do they need in this moment?
The programs include job searching as well as life skills, like how to install proper boundaries, how to make financial goals, establishing health objectives and more.
They also offer addiction recovery services, run by Recovery Services Director Ann Hasse.
We started that when COVID hit and thats been really awesome to have, Lane says.
Through their recovery program, they are able to help many people. For difficult cases, Fellowship Missions partners with a free, 12-month recovery program in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
What makes Fellowship Missions even more incredible is that it is run on donations and grants.
Our community really pulls together, and theyre the ones who support us and allow us to do what we do, Lane says.
Fellowship Missions is located at 1520 East Winona Avenue in Warsaw. To learn more, check out fellowshipmissions.net. Call them at 574-268-9555.
