Crack cocaine derailed the life of Wayne Harlan Whitehead for about four years before he discovered the ARISE Men’s Homeless Shelter and got back on his feet.

Prior to his transformation, Whitehead was involved with the drug and would get so depressed he didn’t venture outside except to buy beer.

Crack made him so paranoid that he finally turned himself in to a hospital’s mental-health ward where he started his “little comeback.”

Whitehead would eventually seek refuge at the ARISE program in Renton.

“The first night I was there and I slept on a mattress on the floor, it just felt like all the weight was lifted, it was safe,” Whitehead said.

He was one of three formerly homeless men honored for their accomplishments at a June 5 celebration at Harambee Church in Renton.

Now Whitehead has permanent housing, spends some of his time volunteering and is working on securing a job.

ARISE is an acronym for Area of Renton Interfaith Shelter Endeavor.

Although the program has existed since 2004 and helped many men find jobs, permanent housing or treatment, this was the first time it held a formal celebration for clients.

Just last year, ARISE served 121 homeless men and placed 32 of them in housing outside of the shelter.

The program was started by the Renton Ecumenical Association of Churches or REACH but is currently a program of Catholic Community Services.

ARISE provides up to six months of emergency nighttime shelter, food and case management for homeless men in Renton.

The goal of the program is to move the men from the streets to permanent housing.

Different Renton-area churches volunteer to host the shelter as it rotates among them, with the men staying there for a month at a time.

It is hard to track the men who go through the program, so founder Bob Bliesner estimates they have a placement rate of about 26 percent, based on their 2011 results.

“In fact we didn’t have this success rate of placing people in the early years, when we first started,” said Bliesner. “CCS (Catholic Community Services) has beefed up the case-management support and that’s what’s made the difference on that. We’re able to get these men the services they require, plus there’s more housing available today thanks to the 10-year plan.”

He was referring to a countywide effort to end homelessness in 10 years.

REACH members decided to let CCS take over the program completely three years ago, although REACH still provides the volunteer support.

Mayor Denis Law thinks the ARISE program is “outstanding” and that Renton could stand to have more programs like it.

Law attended the June 5 celebration.

He remarked on how 73 people were counted in this year’s One Night Count of the Homeless in Renton, which he said was just scratching the surface.

The city is seeing a lot of families and people living in cars and people who’ve lost homes to foreclosure, Law said.

“People who have been secure and had all of those things at one point in time find themselves with nothing,” he said. “It’s hard for us to fathom that; they’re all around us. It’s kind of heart warming when you see a community come together and try to meet some of those needs. That’s what’s great about Renton. People really step up.”

Pat Wyre is one of those people who have stepped up as a volunteer from Nativity Lutheran Church.

She calls her volunteer work with the ARISE program her passion.

“It’s because we get to feed the men and see them and talk with them,” Wyre said. “It’s just been my passion since I’ve been (at the church).”

Bliesner calls the ARISE program a passion program.

“We find that almost every church that we’ve got has an emotional leader that is interested in helping out the homeless,” he said.

In 2011 some 2,000 volunteers in the program provided 7,686 bed-nights for homeless men.

Volunteers also contributed more than 7,200 hours while serving slightly more than 8,000 hot meals, according to Bliesner.

“Our goal is to go out of business,” he said. “We’d like to not have enough people on the street to support our program. That’s where we’re headed we hope.”

Women’s shelter in Renton

A women’s shelter is in the works for Renton.

The City of Renton, Renton Ecumenical Association of Churches and a group of volunteers have been coordinating their efforts to see this endeavor take shape.

“We don’t have a lot of details yet, but we know that there are a lot of women with children who are sleeping in cars and who are homeless throughout the community,” said Mayor Denis Law. “We’re trying to figure out if we can find a site and coordinate a program with Catholic Community Services where we can provide housing similar to the ARISE program.”

Rev. Linda Smith of REACH and SKY Center is the lead coordinator on the project.

She saw a need for a women’s shelter based on her communication with the city’s human services staff and the many inquiries and calls she encountered for housing.

“The number of women and children who are homeless are increasing at an alarming rate,” wrote Smith in an email. “There is no place for our most vulnerable, women and children during the day to find a hot meal, wash their clothes or make the necessary calls to even find housing.”

According Preeti Shridhar, communications director for the city, there are two projects in the works: a day shelter and an overnight shelter in churches.

The former jail at City Hall has been identified as a possible site of one shelter. It would have to be made to not feel like a jail and be compatible with space that is also being used for evidence storage, Law said.

The former jail might be suitable because it is safe, clean, it has a kitchen and showers and some areas could be converted into kids’s play areas, Law said.