Maria Shior, BES Director of Volunteers, speaking at the 2025 Annual Meeting.
Amid an ongoing rise in homelessness, Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering (BES) provided a record-high 10,400 bed nights and more than 8,300 meals for its guests during the nearly six-month period from November 2023 to April 2024.
Volunteers logged 7,738 hours last year, according to Maria Shior, Director of Volunteers. With each volunteer hour worth about $30 in savings, those volunteers saved BES more than $230,000.
“We all have a common mission. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be together tonight,” said Gary Dologite, Chair of the BES Board of Directors. “But ours is a mission none of us can accomplish individually. Together we’ve made significant progress, and together we can continue to make progress toward a better future.”
Those were among the messages shared during the BES 2025 Annual Meeting, held on Feb. 12 at Christ Church United Church of Christ (UCC), which hosts the shelter. More than three dozen people attended the meeting, where officials detailed the shelter’s growing demand and the challenges ahead.
Rising Demand for Shelter Services
The number of bed nights at BES has increased each of the last four years, reaching 10,387 in 2024. The shelter expects to exceed that number this year.
The shelter served 231 unique individuals during the 2023–24 season, averaging 62 guests per night, according to
BES Executive Director Bob Rapp. Over the past four seasons, bed nights have risen by 104%, with men’s shelter use increasing by 83% and women’s shelter use surging by 158%.
“We could not do what we do without each and every one of you in this room,” Rapp said. “I see the volunteer spirit in each and every one of you. Together, we are a force indeed.”
The number of bed nights has increased each of the last four years, growing from 4,572 in 2021 to 10,387 in 2024, Rapp said. The shelter is on track to reach a record number again this year, having already seen 6,514 bed nights in the first months of 2025 so far.
“Less than 15% of the folks we serve are from other places [outside the Lehigh Valley,]” Rapp said. “These are folks who were born and raised here, who went to school here, who were married and had families here. These are the folks who come from our community, and they’re struggling. We need to be creative and find a way to get them something stable.”
Slides with additional data presented during the BES Annual Meeting can be downloaded here.
Facility Challenges and Growing Homelessness
Executive Director Bob Rapp speaking at the BES 2025 Annual Meeting.
The current space, built in 1869, presents logistical challenges like suboptimal shower facilities and difficult access to the kitchen. BES and the city of Bethlehem had sought an alternative location by the end of 2024, but that did not come to fruition, so the focus will shift to renovations to the existing space at an estimated cost of $5.7 million, Dologite said.
Rapp said unofficial results from the recent Point-in-Time (PIT) Count showed that homelessness has increased by more than 16% in Northampton County and more than 6% in Lehigh County. The problem has been worsened by a severe lack of affordable housing in the city, compounded by obstacles such as zoning restrictions, community opposition, and NIMBYism.
Rapp praised the alley house program that was proposed by the city of Bethlehem, Community Action Lehigh Valley, Lehigh University, and New Bethany. However, the proposal has faced community opposition, fueled by misconceptions that it would be high-density housing that could lower property values.
“We need you to talk to your community leaders, your faith groups, your neighbors, and the people you work with,” Rapp said. “We need to get them to understand that this problem is fixable, and together we can solve this issue and get these folks back to a place where they can call home.”
Community Support Continues to Grow
BES Board of Directors Chair Gary Dologite (right) speaks at the BES meeting, while board Treasurer Michael Long and Secretary Robert Hintze (seated, left to right) listen to his report.
Shior discussed the weekend bagged lunch program, which started during the COVID-19 pandemic when Rapp and Christ Church UCC Co-Pastor John Kunkel made peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for people unable to get meals during the lockdown. It has since grown to provide 200 lunches every weekend year-round, regardless of weather.
BES served 10,401 lunches through the program in 2024, Shior said. Nearly 70% of recipients are provided to food-insecure housed individuals, including families and children.
“Even though we don’t serve families in the shelter, we are now serving families through our bagged lunches because the need in our community has grown, and they’ve seen us as not only a resource, but a consistent resource,” Shior said.
Michael Long, Treasurer on the BES Board of Directors, said the 2025 budget of $495,550 represents a $93,000 increase over the previous year, primarily due to contractual salary increases, professional service fees, and fundraising consultant fees.
Long noted that income from all sources, excluding corporate grants, has exceeded the 2024 budgeted levels. Individual donations to the shelter rose by $33,000, and support from affiliated religious organizations increased by $73,000, although one of these contributions was a one-time occurrence.
“Over the 16-year period that Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering has been in existence, it has grown each and every year,” Long said. “The reason it’s grown each year is that there’s a need, and the reason we’ve been able to meet the need is because the commitment of people has also continued to grow.”